this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2026
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Political Memes

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[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 9 points 3 hours ago

Before anyone twists my point, let me be perfectly clear: I have absolutely zero tolerance for child abuse, child exploitation, or child sexual abuse material in any form. Anyone involved in harming children deserves to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

That said, this meme is exactly why social media is such a terrible place to get political information.

The post claims that three Republicans voted against a bill banning AI-generated child sexual abuse material, but then provides none of the information necessary to evaluate the claim. It doesn't tell you the bill number. It doesn't tell you who voted no. It doesn't explain their reasoning. It doesn't link the text of the bill. It doesn't even attempt to discuss what was actually in the legislation.

Instead, it relies entirely on the assumption that the audience will immediately conclude that anyone who voted against the bill must support child exploitation. That is a massive leap, and one the meme intentionally encourages.

Legislators vote against bills for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes those reasons are bad. Sometimes they are legitimate concerns about constitutionality, definitions, enforcement mechanisms, unintended consequences, or provisions that have been bundled into the legislation. Whether those objections are valid is a discussion worth having. The problem is that this meme doesn't have that discussion at all.

In fact, it doesn't provide enough information for anyone to have an informed opinion. It simply presents a highly emotional topic, omits all relevant context, and invites outrage.

Maybe those three votes were completely indefensible. Maybe they weren't. The point is that nobody reading this meme has been given enough information to know. The purpose of the post is not to inform the reader. The purpose is to provoke an emotional response and direct that emotion toward a particular political group.

If your argument is strong, you should be able to tell people what the bill was, who voted against it, and why they said they voted against it. If all of that information is missing, what you're looking at is not analysis. It's propaganda.

[–] Kaligalis@lemmy.world 6 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

That looks like the usual bad faith "they want to fuck children" smearing. I am almost fully certain that the bill contains egregious overreach and/or is redundant to existing law because that literally always was the case when I looked behind similar tweets in the past.

[–] takeda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 hours ago
[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 31 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

looks into the bill

Yet another "stop the kicking of puppies" bill that also included sacrificing all firstborns to the dark lord.

[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 5 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Where is the bill? I pasted the sentence into DuckDuckGo, picked "Last month" and no relevant results
https://noai.duckduckgo.com/?q=%22Missouri%22+House+passes+bill+banning+AI+deepfake+porn+of+children.&df=m&noai=1&ia=web

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 20 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

One issue per bill. Those fuckers need to start working for their money again, not just continually posturing for sound bites they can use in their next election. But wait...that's getting a bit too close to transparency.

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 4 points 11 hours ago

Limiting bills to one issue requires anyone acting in good faith at all.

[–] WanderWisley@lemmy.world 13 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Someone…should…probably…maybe…do…a…investigation..into…there…internet…search…history…just saying.

[–] Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

These 3 are actually the good guys, bill just has a ton of other privacy destroying shit hidden in it.

[–] Leg@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 hours ago

Bills like this only exist to obfuscate the truth.

[–] GhostFace@lemmy.today 8 points 14 hours ago

They're not even trying to hide it anymore

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 40 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

If a bill headlines as “think of the children” it is always evil and full of unrelated shit. No exceptions.

Good on those 3 republicans for looking out for their constituents. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to go take a shower after writing that last sentence.

[–] Fmstrat@lemmy.world 12 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

The scary part is, since social media age verification was hidden in it.. that might not be satire for once.

[–] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 4 points 13 hours ago

Oooh, funny that wasn't mentioned by either the tweet or OP. That's a significant factor.

[–] QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works 99 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Didn't this bill also contained a social media ban?

[–] kungen@feddit.nu 154 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Social media platforms would be required to implement age verification measures to ensure youth under 16 can’t create social media accounts and allow parents to oversee social media use by 16- and 17-year-olds.

Yes.

It's tiresome how lawmakers love to put a ton of shit into a single vote.

[–] nightwatch_admin@lemmy.world 53 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It may be that is the actual reason these republicans voted no. Not that I trust them with kids close by, but 1 vote for a bill that looks more like a Walmart on crack than, well, a proper bill, I can imagine you end up voting in interesting ways sometimes.

[–] Mirshe@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

This is a strategy, and has been for years, ever since political advertising became a thing over the air. "Congressman X voted NO on a bill that would stop people from drinking raw sewage (because it also contained a section that would limit the ability of the federal government to regulate food)", etc.

[–] bobs_monkey@lemmy.zip 27 points 1 day ago (3 children)

It really is a pervasive issue, similar to how Republicans keep ramming pet projects into budget reconciliation bills in the House. We really need legislation that bars bills from containing unrelated items in them.

[–] valkyre09@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I’m not from the states so please forgive me if this is incorrect, but I’ve read a “bill” can start out as one thing. Get a load of traction, then be changed last minute to something else entirely just before the vote. Is that true? Seems impossible track if it is

[–] Tower@lemmy.zip 7 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Yup. Check the title of this bill vs the amendment

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/119/s1318/text

"Fallen Servicemembers Religious Heritage Restoration Act"

Amendment: "... Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

1.Short titles; table of contents (a)Short titles This Act may be cited as the Foreign Intelligence Accountability Act and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act."

[–] mech@feddit.org 5 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

I'm speechless. I mean it actually makes sense in the context of the archaic US democratic system, but still...

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 points 21 hours ago

they do that alot , the REPUBLICANS did this with NN bills which was actually disguising the TAX CUT of 2017.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago

So that sounds good in theory, but in practice it is used to prevent anything the judiciary dislikes from being done. Have a single issue bill that all it says is it moves cannabis from class 1 to class 3 controlled substance? Well that affects interstate commerce too so whoopsie can't write that law.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 21 hours ago

it will be hard to do that in missouri , the republicans have total control of the state.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 10 points 21 hours ago

AI porn is creeping/infesting into the normal porn sites.

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 5 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Literally easiest fucking moral dillema out there in modern world.

[–] Holytimes@sh.itjust.works 16 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

The stupid part is it's almost always shit like. Bill bans ai child porn on page one legalizes real child porn on page two. Head line POLITICIAN VOTES TO KEEP AI CHILD PORM LEGAL.

Wouldn't be surprised if this bill has horrid knock on effects that make every thing worse.

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

or that the ones that vote no have phones/computers filled with child porn.. real or generated.

Remember, this is the epstein party we're talking about

[–] leftascenter@jlai.lu 23 points 1 day ago

They just want AI to "ThInk abOUt THe cHildREn!"

[–] Tyrq@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 1 day ago
[–] Danarchy@lemmy.nz 3 points 1 day ago

The rest of em voted yes b/c they prefer the real stuff

Where's the rest of the pork here?

[–] EntheoNaut@lemmy.ml -2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Investigate those enablers and pedophiles. Hang them all.

[–] Jyek@sh.itjust.works 23 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Or actually look deeper as to why they would have voted no before coming to the worst possible conclusion.

[–] gumball4933@lemmy.world -2 points 10 hours ago

Thats what “investigate” means

[–] bold_atlas@lemmy.world -3 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Read it again. What do you think "investigate" means?

[–] pupbiru@aussie.zone 8 points 14 hours ago

investigate is the verb, but “those enablers and pedophiles” immediately labels them

and then “Hang them all” it pretty unambiguous

[–] Jyek@sh.itjust.works 7 points 14 hours ago

I read it correctly the first time. You said "investigate" but then you decided what the result of said investigation should be. You've already found them guilty because of a headline.