U.S. lawmakers push for new federal laws to fight global online terror network 764

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- New details in an ITEAM investigation into a global network known as 764.

The FBI refers to 764 as a "New form of modern-day terrorism" that targets children online and exploits them. Tuesday, several lawmakers pushed for new laws that would hold violent criminals accountable who are part of groups such as 764.

For years, U.S. authorities have struggled to stop online extremist groups like 764 from pushing teens to livestream acts of violence or self-harm because coercion is not a federal crime, but as children continued to be targeted, some even taking their lives, lawmakers are hoping to change that.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, DC, one lawmaker said, "We have been wrestling with child exploitation, which is only getting worse."

The committee also discussed how they FBI has described 764 as one of the greatest current threats to teens online, with members finding vulnerable victims on popular platforms, eliciting private information and intimate sexual images from them, and then using that sensitive material to blackmail victims into mutilating themselves or taking other violent action, all while streaming it on social media so others can watch and then share recordings of it.

According to authorities, some victims of 764 have been pushed to suicide.

During Monday's hearing, Jessica Lieber Smolar a former Assistant United States Attorney, Western District of Pennsylvania told lawmakers one of the alleged suspects behind a 764-victim committing suicide is charged with coercion under German law, but not here in the U.S. She adds, "They were able to charge that 764 offender there and we could not charge him here, that shouldn't happen, we should be able to charge these offenders, hold them accountable and deter them from continuing to harm our children."

Lawmakers introduced two new bills hoping to toughen federal laws. One bill called The Ending Coercion of Children and Harm Online Act. Under this proposal, some perpetrators, if convicted, could face life in prison. The second bill is called The Stop Sextortion Act.

Both bills are just proposals; it's not known what the next steps are. Activists and law enforcement said what parents can do right now is talk to their kids about the dangers of online predators, especially sextortion, as that is where they're seeing groups such as 764 target teens.