Parents Ask for Tougher Laws Targeting
Dangerous Online Network that Exploits Children.
by Mark Rivera, Barb Markoff, Christine Tressel and Tom Jones
Wed, December 10, 2025
There was a deeply emotional day of testimony on Capitol Hill this week as lawmakers heard firsthand from family members of children targeted by a dangerous online network known as 764.
Members manipulate unsuspecting kids online, blackmail and extort them into producing sexually explicit images or harming themselves or others. Now, lawmakers are hearing from families and advocates as they ask for more action on the federal level to stop groups like this.
“For nearly 20 hours, they attacked, threatened, terrorized, dismantled my child. Every time he tried to fight back and ask why are you doing this to me, please leave me alone, they escalated,” said Tamia Woods.
She recounted the devastating final hours of her 17-year-old son James’ life after he was manipulated and extorted by the malicious online group 764. James died by suicide and was found at their home.
“In those last moments, my son, who had everything to live for, felt like he had no other choice,” Woods said.
The 764 group operates not only in the United States but all over the world using threats, blackmail, and perverse manipulation to groom children for violence and pain, according to the FBI, forcing them to perform depraved acts against themselves and others. Investigators say the more debased and violent the image or video a member is able to coerce a child to produce, the higher their standing in 764.
“We’ve got to change the law. Unfortunately, technology has to be moving forward and as it moves forward there are more challenges for criminal prosecution,” Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin told the ABC7 I-Team.
Durbin listened to that testimony in Congress and introduced bipartisan legislation to hold online actors who manipulate and extort children accountable.
“Now they’re using all sorts of means of coercing these young people into doing horrible things, harming themselves and others, and animals and in some cases taking their own lives,” Sen. Durbin said.
That bill has not yet become law.
H.R.6484 – Kids Online Safety Act 119th Congress (2025-2026) | Get alerts
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/parents-asking-tougher-laws-targeting-012918787.html
