United States

Under the Trump administration, the US has imposed drastic cuts through a decision to freeze federal aid followed by a complete shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) (1). As a historically significant contributor of international aid, this withdrawal is already substantially impacting global child protection efforts.

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Domestically, the US has eliminated criminal statutes of limitations at the federal level for most childhood sexual violence crimes, ensuring justice remains accessible for survivors regardless of when they are able to come forward (2).

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The US has made positive progress in making the internet a safer place for young Americans, particularly through the TAKE IT DOWN Act. Now signed into law, the TAKE IT DOWN Act makes it a federal crime to intentionally post or threaten to share child sexual abuse material, including AI-generated content. The Act also mandates tech platforms to remove flagged content from their services within 48 hours of notification (3). Despite strong progress in this area, overall, existing protections remain inadequate to meet the scale of the challenge of online sexual abuse. According to IWF data, 41,502 URLs displaying childhood sexual violence imagery were hosted in the US in 2023 (4). As the home to numerous tech companies and social media platforms, the US has a unique and critical leadership role in regulating the tech sector and ensuring safe online environments for children globally.

Learn more about the safe internet indicator

The US has not yet established a National Survivors Council, though there has been positive leadership, particularly from the First Lady, in centering survivors’ perspectives (5), The US has previously established an Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, which comprises 13 survivor leaders (6).

Learn more about the national survivor council indicator