California Legislation Aims to Combat Online Exploitation of Minors

California lawmakers have introduced a new bill, the Protecting Our Children from Online Extortion Act, aimed at creating a criminal offense for adults who exploit or harass minors by using other minors.

On Tuesday, Republican Senator Tony Strickland presented Senate Bill 1015 to the Senate Public Safety Committee, intending to fill a loophole that child predators often exploit. He noted that because consensual actions between minors aren’t criminalized in California, predators may coerce minors into harming each other.

“Right now, our laws are a step behind,” Strickland remarked. “These networks are growing rapidly.”

The legislation seeks to enhance existing extortion laws by explicitly mentioning sexual conduct, intimate images, and AI-generated explicit images as actions constituting extortion.

“Any person who recruits, directs, coerces, or uses a minor to facilitate harmful conduct toward another minor, including through electronic means, is guilty of a felony,” the text of the bill states.

Such offenses would carry prison sentences ranging from two to six years.

Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes commented that the bill could target organizations like an online group named 764, which reportedly blackmails minors into engaging in sexual acts, self-harm, and even animal torture. The FBI revealed over 350 ongoing investigations involving this group.

Barnes highlighted a troubling local incident where an adult used an online gaming platform to coerce a 12-year-old boy into sexual acts with his 10-year-old sister. In another instance, a 15-year-old involved in an online group made a bomb threat.

“Gaps in current law hinder investigations,” the sheriff explained. “While adults can be prosecuted for direct exploitation, there’s no clear charge for when a minor manipulates another minor.”

Strickland indicated that many of the investigations involving group 764 related to child sexual abuse material, and this new legislation could address around 70% of those cases in California.

“The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported a staggering 115% increase in sadistic online exploitation from 2024 to 2025,” Strickland said. “Their methods for harming children follow a consistent pattern—befriending, isolating, and coercing them into creating explicit content, which is then used against them.”

The senator mentioned his own children as a motivating factor for proposing the bill.

“My bill ensures our laws evolve as quickly as these crimes, so we can protect kids in the digital age,” he stated.

The bill received unanimous bipartisan support in its initial committee hearing and is now moving on for further fiscal analysis.

“We’ve treated youth differently than adults, but we need to address behaviors that compromise community safety,” remarked Democratic Senator Anna Caballero.

Lawmakers have until the end of August to finalize the bill and send it to the governor for approval.