[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 78 (Tuesday, May 9, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1554-S1555]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Social Media

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, on May 4, 2019, 15-year-old Mason 
Bogard died after trying to mimic a choking challenge he saw on social 
media.
  Three days earlier, his parents had found him unconscious in his room 
with a belt around his neck. There was nothing his doctors could do 
over that 3-day period to save his life. I am telling Mason's story 
today, with the permission of his mother, because it is so different 
from other stories.
  I have shared a lot of these stories about the dangerous influence 
that online platforms have on our Nation's children. There is no 
evidence to suggest Mason was trying to hurt himself. This death was an 
accident.
  We know this because after Mason died, his parents found a self-
recorded video on his phone that had happened days prior to the 
accident. It shows him attempting the same viral challenge that killed 
him.
  Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to speak with Mason's mom 
Joann about what she is doing to warn other parents about what is 
happening on these platforms.
  Even before she lost her son, Joann knew about the dangers that 
social media could bring into her home. And she did everything in her 
power to protect her children from it. She used watchdog apps, 
physically checked their devices, and had candid conversations with the 
whole family about how dangerous content can be when it is popping up 
in your news feed.
  At this point, I want to share what Joann told me about her efforts 
to make online platforms keep their promises about moderating and 
removing dangerous content like choking challenges.
  And I am quoting Joann:

       Shortly after Mason's death, I began searching for Choking 
     Challenge videos on all of the platforms. I searched for them 
     weekly and I have reported hundreds. But the typical reply 
     that I receive, if I receive a reply at all is--

  And she quotes the social media platforms--

     ``We found that the reported content doesn't violate our 
     Community Guidelines. We understand that you may not want to 
     see this type content, and you have the option to block the 
     account that posted it.''

  She went on to tell me that there was no process for an appeal, no 
way to push for answers from these so-called moderators. The videos 
stayed online. I would remind my colleagues that the response she is 
describing was generated after she reported videos of children 
strangling themselves in order to get clicks.
  This is one woman's story about one precious child--her child--who 
died because an online platform, a social media platform failed 
him. But thousands of parents can tell you similar stories about how 
their children got caught up in viral trends or emotionally spiraled 
after encountering content that preyed upon their insecurities.

  And while we know that social media isn't the only cause for this 
decline in mental health, we do know that things have gotten much worse 
since kids started spending so much time online.
  According to the Pew Research Center, close to 60 percent of our 
Nation's youth have experienced some form of abuse online. It is safe 
to assume that at least that many have been exposed to content 
glorifying bullying, mental illness, and self-harm.
  Between 2010 and 2019 teen depression rates doubled, with the largest 
increase among girls. The CDC recently produced data showing that 
adolescents are now the most likely age group to visit the emergency 
room for suicidal thoughts, with nearly one in three teen girls 
seriously considering attempting suicide.
  Before the rise of social media, suicide by the young had stabilized 
and declined for decades. Now, it is the third leading cause of death 
for Americans between the ages of 15 and 24.
  The Consumer Protection Subcommittee, where I serve, has produced 
five hearings' worth of evidence showing that harmful content is 
readily available to minors, that online platforms are aware of this, 
and that they have made the conscious decision to ignore it. Think 
about that.
  They have proved time and again that they will not follow through on 
their commitment to moderate harmful content unless they are forced to 
do so. So I think it is time that we force them to take action.
  It is going to be a long road, and I am going to be blunt. When it 
comes to putting guardrails on Silicon Valley, there are a million 
different ways to get it wrong. But, over the years, Congress has 
learned some valuable lessons, and now we know how to fix the

[[Page S1555]]

problem, instead of just putting an expensive bandaid on that problem.
  First, I am all for encouraging innovation, but let's be clear: The 
motto ``move fast and break things'' has a cost, and we don't want that 
cost to be imposed on our children.
  We know that Big Tech will never hold themselves accountable to any 
acceptable safety standard. The creation of safety by design and the 
resulting accountability should be our goal.
  Second, we want to make sure that these safety standards don't allow 
these companies to take their hands off the wheel once certain 
requirements are met. Verifying a user's age or obtaining parental 
consent for minors to use the platforms--that is important, but it will 
not stop children from getting bombarded with dangerous content once 
they are online.
  And, finally, legislation must not simply shift the burden of 
controlling the spread of this dangerous content onto the parents. This 
is precisely what Big Tech companies have been doing for years, and it 
is not working. Parents want to be involved, but they cannot protect 
their children if the platforms keep moving the goalposts to protect 
their business models.
  Unfortunately, when our children are on these platforms, our children 
are the product. These platforms data mine our children, and then they 
market that data.
  We have seen proposal after proposal fail, but after years of talking 
to parents and tech companies and policy experts, we finally have the 
opportunity to support a bill that does get it right.
  Last week, Senator Blumenthal and I reintroduced the Kids Online 
Safety Act. As of today, this bill has 33 bipartisan cosponsors and the 
endorsement of hundreds of bipartisan organizations because it does 
exactly what moms like Joann Bogard and other advocates have been 
asking Congress to do.
  First, it would force platforms to give families the ability to 
protect minors' information, disable addictive product features, and 
opt out of algorithmic recommendations.
  Next, it would give parents the safeguards needed to protect their 
kids online, as well as a dedicated portal to report harmful behavior.
  Predatory content and content that promotes self-harm, suicide, and 
eating disorders--all of this that causes problems for our kids would 
become a problem that the platforms have to deal with--no more denial, 
no more deflection.
  We also included requirements for annual risk assessments and access 
to datasets we can use to assess safety threats to underage users.
  This is a very straightforward bill. It won't hinder innovation. It 
won't allow platforms to take their hands off the wheel, and it won't 
put the burden on parents to try to figure out how in the world to 
control the access their children have to this harmful content.
  Our children are exposed to things in the virtual space that we would 
never allow them to be exposed to in the physical space. Over the past 
few years we have heard pundit after armchair pundit insist that it is 
time to treat our kids like grownups. But our children are not adults, 
and it is our responsibility to protect them so that, one day, they 
will have the opportunity to be grownups. Our children are being 
exposed to things that no reasonable parent would ever allow their 
child to know about these things.
  If there is one thing we have learned during our hearings with the 
Consumer Protection Subcommittee, it is that simply encouraging more 
supervision is not enough. A high-tech permission slip just isn't going 
to cut it. If we want to keep kids safe online, we have to demand real 
accountability from these Big Tech social media platforms.
  Last Congress, the Kids Online Safety Act passed out of the Commerce 
Committee 28 to 0. That is right--unanimous support. I would ask my 
colleagues on each side of the aisle to join me and Senator Blumenthal 
in calling for a vote so that we can finally push this bill across the 
finish line and provide parents the toolbox they need to protect their 
children from the harm in the virtual media.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.