ECCHO Act

Ending Coercion of Children and Harm Online or the ECCHO Act

This bill establishes a federal framework to combat the online coercion of minors to commit harm. The bill creates new criminal offenses, expands reporting of instances involving the online coercion of minors, facilitates the prosecution of offenders, and expands protections for minors who testify in court.

Specifically, the bill makes it a crime to intentionally coerce a minor to

• commit suicide (or attempt to);
• kill someone (or attempt to);
• kill a pet, emotional support animal, service animal, or horse (or attempt to);
• physically harm an individual (including the minor), pet, emotional support animal, service animal, or horse; or
• commit (or attempt to commit) arson or certain other acts such as doxxing or swatting.

A violation (or conspiracy or attempt to commit a violation) is subject to a fine, a prison term, or both.

The bill requires electronic communication service providers and remote computing service providers to report instances of online coercion of minors to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children via the CyberTipline.

The bill facilitates the federal prosecution of offenses committed by (1) individuals as part of a child exploitation enterprise, and (2) minors in certain circumstances.

The bill extends various protections for minors who testify in court (e.g., certain privacy protections) to those who are victims of or witnesses to crimes involving mental injury (i.e., psychological or intellectual harm to a child) or the negligent treatment of a child.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov