"As parents, we did everything we could to teach our kids how to use social media responsibly and monitor their usage, but it still wasn't enough. Our sons, Carson and David, suffered from relentless cyberbullying that resulted in them taking their own lives. As we navigated our own grief and struggled to understand the pain that overwhelmed our sons, we met each other - and even more "survivor parents" who have experienced similar loss."
"Every day, we live with the reality that our sons might still be alive today if the tech companies had done more to protect underage users from harmful content, anonymous bullying and manipulative algorithms. They failed to take action even when confronted with evidence that the platforms they designed and marketed to minors were fueling a national mental and physical health epidemic, as documented extensively by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and whistleblowers such as Frances Haugen and Arturo Béjar."
CEOs from five major tech companies will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about failures to protect minors from online harms. Mothers who lost sons to cyberbullying and suicide will watch for concrete congressional action after the CEOs depart. Parents report that teaching responsible social media use and monitoring failed to prevent relentless cyberbullying that led to their sons' deaths. Survivors' parents demand stronger legal safeguards, including the Kids Online Safety Act, to compel platforms to prevent addictive, manipulative content and anonymous bullying. Public health data and whistleblower revelations are cited as evidence that platforms fueled a youth mental and physical health epidemic.
Read at Chicago Tribune
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