WASHINGTON (April 9, 2025) – WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today reintroduced the Targeting Child Predators Act to help stop children from being exploited online.
“Innocent children are uniquely vulnerable to wicked people who commit one of the worst crimes imaginable in the internet’s shadows. Law enforcement should have every resource at their disposal to stop and punish child predators, and this bill delivers a critical tool for the good guys,” said Kennedy.
Current law gives suspected predators opportunity to evade prosecution and criminal accountability when electronic communication service (ECS) providers alert them to potential law enforcement investigations.
When law enforcement investigates online child exploitation cases, they typically match an IP address to a suspected predator. Officials may then use this evidence to obtain a subpoena to collect the name of the person attached to the IP address from an ECS provider.
ECS providers comply with these subpoenas, but often inform users of the search—in these cases, suspected child predators—of the request. Suspects who discover that law enforcement is investigating them regularly erase their internet search footprints, which can make prosecuting online child predators nearly impossible.
The Targeting Child Predators Act would allow law enforcement to block ECS providers from notifying suspected child predators that they are being investigated for at least 180 days if law enforcement certifies that doing so is necessary to prevent destruction of evidence, flight and other misconduct.
Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) cosponsored the bill.
“We live in a digitally dominated world and while there are many positive benefits that come with that, there’s also a dark underbelly. This legislation would support law enforcement’s efforts to mitigate the dangerous threats that lurk behind the screens we look at daily and safeguard Texas children from harm,” said Cornyn.
The Targeting Child Predators Act does not expand what type of evidence law enforcement can collect and allows for judicial review of a nondisclosure requirement attached to a subpoena.
The Child Rescue Coalition, Raven, Major County Sheriffs of America and the National Fraternal Order of Police support the Targeting Child Predators Act.
“The TCPA will streamline data access for law enforcement in child exploitation cases, without compromising their investigations, or repeatedly burdening the Judiciary, enabling quicker investigations to protect and rescue victims from online predators,” said Greg Schiller, CEO, Child Rescue Coalition.
“This bill will prevent tech companies from notifying child predators of subpoena service which will keep vital evidence from being destroyed and increase law enforcement’s ability to rescue victims,” said Jennifer Dunton, Director of Legislative Affairs at Raven.
“MCSA commends Senator Kennedy for introducing the Targeting Child Predators Act. If those who target and exploit children are tipped off when a criminal investigation is underway, they can destroy evidence and as a result complicate the recovery of evidence. This bill would help to minimize this possibility and improve our chances of putting them behind bars. We encourage Congress to act on this important legislation,” said Sheriff Bill Brown, President, Major County Sheriffs of America.
“The ‘Targeting Child Predators Act’ makes a common-sense change that ensures that law enforcement has the necessary time to conduct thorough investigations and build strong cases against offenders. This change would ultimately help remove predators from our neighborhoods and make our internet communities safer for children and families,” said Patrick Yoes, National President, National Fraternal Order of Police.
The full bill text of the Targeting Child Predators Act is available here.
