Parents Push Congress for Stricter Social Media Laws

Parents are calling on Congress to enact stricter guidelines monitoring youngsters’ information and accounts on social media, claiming the platforms performed an element in inflicting their kids’s hurt and even dying.

In a letter to Congressional members together with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), and others, 55 dad and mom wrote they misplaced their kids, listed as ages 10 by 21 years outdated to “fentanyl poisoning from drugs purchased through social media,” and “dangerous viral ‘challenges’ that took their lives.”

They mentioned they blame “Big Tech,” claiming they “chose to prioritize profits over the safety and wellbeing of young people.” The purpose of the letter was to induce Congress to behave now earlier than extra kids are damage or die.

Several of the challenges which have reportedly contributed to kids’s lack of security have included the TikTok tide pod problem, the NyQuil rooster problem, and the blackout problem which inspired younger individuals to carry their breath till they cross out.

Social media has been proven to play a unbroken function in despair and nervousness in teenagers, and in accordance with a study by BYU, teen ladies who spend two to a few hours on social media every day have an elevated danger of suicide. The inclusion of social media challenges has performed a distinguished function in accordance with a University of Utah weblog that references the Blue Whale problem on Snapchat which encourages teenagers to interact in unhealthy behaviors reminiscent of slicing or burning themselves.

The dad and mom of kids who died from the social media challenges, cyberbullying, and medicines requested Congress to enact the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act. These payments would enable dad and mom to have extra of a task of their kids’s on-line presence by monitoring their exercise and would require firms to implement safeguards and broaden restrictions for amassing teenagers’ information.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) is main a separate on-line security measure and mentioned at a information convention that passing the invoice is “[his] personal priority. I’ve worked on a comprehensive privacy bill. All in favor of it. There’s still some obstacles to it. This bill is doable. … We need to do this bill.” He added, “I will be deeply disappointed and angry if we fail to do this.”

Maurine Molak says she misplaced her son David to suicide after he encountered a number of months of cyberbullying on social media. He was 17 years outdated. She informed The Washington Post that her son “could not make it stop,” including, “I could not make it stop.”

Deb Schmill, who additionally signed the letter to Congress, informed the outlet her daughter Becca died from fentanyl poisoning that she and a good friend discovered on social media. She mentioned, “The social media companies are not doing enough to prevent it, and this bill will hold them accountable for that.”

The organizers of the Parents Together group are assembly with prime lawmakers this week to induce them to do what they’ll to get this laws handed. The group added, “Our children should not be collateral damage in tech companies’ relentless push for profits. Big Tech must be held accountable for the business decisions that are taking our children’s lives.”