A Republican bill with no cosponsors
Last activity — Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
In committee
Introduced and handed to a committee in the chamber it started in.
The committee holds it, and most bills are never heard from again. A hearing or a committee vote would be news; silence is the usual outcome, and it kills the bill without anyone voting against it.
Its path through Congress
- Introduced
- In Committee
What this bill would do
This bill, known as the "Combating Online Predators Act" or the "COP Act," seeks to amend title 18 of the United States Code. It specifically aims to prohibit threats made to a minor. The legislation focuses on changing how the law handles the distribution of threats involving sexual exploitation. These changes affect sections 2252A and 2252 of the United States Code.
Yes· 3 of 4
- Scored +8
Would children be better off under this?
The bill provides new criminal protections for children against threats involving sexual exploitation.
- Scored +2
Does this protect people from being watched or searched?
The bill provides legal recourse against the coercive use of visual depictions to exploit minors.
- Scored +2
Does this change how police departments operate?
The bill expands federal criminal statutes to allow for the prosecution of those making threats to minors for sexual exploitation.
The opposite
No question was scored the opposite.
Who it would affect, and how
Potential Positive Impacts for People
- Prohibiting threats to minors: The bill adds a provision that makes it illegal to knowingly distribute or provide a threat to distribute visual depictions of a minor (or someone believed to be a minor) engaging in sexually explicit conduct, if the intent is for that minor to create or transmit more such depictions. (Section 2, subsection a, paragraph 8; Section 2, subsection b, paragraph 5).
Potential Negative Impacts for People
- No specific negative impacts are mentioned in the text.
Groups and Interests Ranking
Every group the model scored this bill for, from -10 to +10. Tap or hover a score for the reason it gave.
- Demographic And Interest Groups
- Would children be better off under this? — The bill provides new criminal protections for children against threats involving sexual exploitation.
- Governance And Ideology
- Does this protect people from being watched or searched? — The bill provides legal recourse against the coercive use of visual depictions to exploit minors.
- Social Issues And Justice
- Does this change how police departments operate? — The bill expands federal criminal statutes to allow for the prosecution of those making threats to minors for sexual exploitation.
- Education And Technology
- Does this put more rules on large technology companies? — The bill targets digital distribution methods used to threaten minors with sexually explicit content.
- 1/27/2026
- Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
- Introduced in Senate
One bill Congress.gov lists as related to this one — companions in the other chamber, earlier versions, and bills this one absorbed or was folded into.