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Legislators in two dozen states are working on bills, or have passed laws, to combat A.I.-generated sexually explicit images of minors.

Using artificial intelligence, middle and high school students have fabricated explicit images of female classmates and shared the doctored pictures.

Seeking social media stardom for their underage daughters, mothers post images of them on Instagram. The accounts draw men sexually attracted to children, and they sometimes pay to see more.

Mothers are running Instagram accounts for underage girls aspiring to stardom. Many encounter a dark underworld dominated by men, including pedophiles.

After senators grilled the leaders of Meta, TikTok, X and others, there may be momentum to pass rules to safeguard the internet’s youngest users, some said.

Senators aggressively questioned executives from major tech companies, especially Meta and TikTok, while Mark Zuckerberg spoke directly to victims’ families.

Senators criticized the chief executives of Meta, TikTok, Snap, X and Discord for not doing enough to prevent child sexual abuse online, amid rising fears over how the platforms affect youths.