- United States
- Md.
- Letter
Demand Action on Platform-Hosted DFSA Content and Spousal Rape Laws
I need to know what your office is doing to address platforms hosting drug-facilitated sexual assault content that originates in our state and to strengthen laws against spousal rape and the distribution of assault recordings.
A recent CNN investigation exposed global networks where men share instructions on drugging and raping their partners, trading videos of these crimes on platforms like Motherless.com, which received 62 million visits in February alone with its core audience in the United States. Men in these communities exchange specific drug dosages, methods to avoid detection, and livestream assaults for cryptocurrency payments. This is not theoretical. Three survivors went public about husbands who drugged and raped them for years, filming the assaults without their knowledge.
Our state needs legislation that explicitly criminalizes the distribution of sexual assault recordings with enhanced penalties when the victim was drugged or unconscious. We also need laws holding platforms accountable when they profit from hosting this content. Safe harbor protections were never intended to shield websites that function as rape academies.
In England and Wales, 43% of recorded sexual assaults now involve partners or ex-partners, with 23% of victims unconscious during the assault. This crime is escalating, and our laws have not kept pace. What specific actions is your office taking to address both platform accountability and gaps in our criminal code around spousal rape and non-consensual recording?