From ABC News: For several years, as U.S. authorities have struggled to stop online extremist networks like “764” from pushing teens to livestream acts of violence or self-harm, including their own suicide, the Justice Department has faced what authorities and victims both say is a vexing challenge: Such coercion is not a federal crime.
That could change if the Republican chairman and the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Justice Department, have their way.
Ahead of a committee hearing Tuesday on the evolving threat of online predators, Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, introduced a first-of-its-kind piece of legislation that would explicitly criminalize the intentional coercing of minors to physically harm themselves or others, including animals.
“When offenders are eventually caught by law enforcement, prosecutors charge them with the most appropriate charges,” Grassley said in the hearing. “However, there are no specific laws to address the terrible and shocking acts conducted by gore groups such as 764 and those engaged in sextortion.”
Grassley and Durbin’s legislation follows ABC News reports on the threat of 764, including the tragic case of Jay Taylor. Taylor, a 13-year-old Washington took his own life live on social media in 2022. He had allegedly been manipulated by a member of 764 in Germany.
“Members of 764 find vulnerable children on popular platforms like Discord and Roblox, befriend them, and then coerce them into producing sexually-explicit content and committing acts of gruesome violence against themselves or others, including pets, siblings and even strangers,” ABC News reported in November.
From ABC News:
“They’re seeking the end of the world,” corrupting future generations and desensitizing them to violence and gore, explained Pat McMonigle, who until he retired from the FBI last year was one of the agents investigating Jay Taylor’s case.
Members of 764 often host live online chats so others can watch the self-harm and violence in real time. The further they can push their victims, the more stature and respect they will receive within 764, authorities say.
“Just sick,” McMonigle said.
Read more at ABC News
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