WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Ashley Moody is continuing her fight to protect children online. Today, ahead of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing featuring testimony by Meta whistleblowers, Senator Moody urged the passage of the Kids Online Safety Act, of which she is a cosponsor, and outlined the importance of defending children from social media dangers.
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Excerpts from Senator Moody’s remarks today:
“How in the world do you protect your children and your families if you are in the dark of what those dangers are?
“The challenges to raising children today and the problems we have with what is lurking on the internet fall into three broad categories: Number one, predators…can get to your children in their bedrooms and you will never know. Number two, there are programs and apps and algorithms being developed to target your children and their attention, ultimately having an effect on their mental health and well-being… and number three, the sheer volume of dangerous, obscene, explicit, harmful material online that your children can access is endless.
“From predators to addictive algorithms to dangerous material, it is a tidal wave coming at families with no way to combat it or … seek redress if your child is harmed.
“As Florida’s attorney general, I brought suit on behalf of our state seeking to hold Meta accountable, and of course the first thing they argue is that they are immune because of a law.. passed decades ago before we had social media…they’re using it as a shield.
“Right now, this is the most important topic for parents addressing the real dangers facing our children—from trafficking, from exploitation, from drug use, to mental health, we have to do more as a Congress…updating our laws to address the realities we are parenting in today.”
Studies show the correlation between time on social media platforms and bad mental health. The Kids Online Safety Act is crucial legislation that protects children from online harm. Key provisions of the bill include:
- Mandatory default safety settings: Requiring platforms to automatically enable their strongest safety protections for minors rather than burying these features behind opt-in screens;
- Addiction prevention: Allowing young users and their parents to disable manipulative design features and algorithmic recommendations that keep children endlessly scrolling; and
- Parental empowerment: Providing parents with new tools to identify harmful behaviors and improved capabilities to report dangerous content.
Learn more about the bill here.
Senator Moody first called for Congress to pass the legislation as former Florida Attorney General. As Florida’s newest U.S. Senator, Moody is a cosponsor of the legislation.
Senator Moody has long been committed to protecting children online. As the former Florida Attorney General, Senator Moody launched investigations into Meta and Instagram, as well as took legal action, over the platform’s algorithms and practices that sought to addict children to using the service and then profit off the children’s data.
As Attorney General, Senator Moody also called Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify to the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking about Meta applications allowing traffickers to prey on victims using the platform. Moody also released the Online Safety Toolkit to help parents talk to children about safe internet use and to avoid online predators and traffickers.
MORE… Attorney General Moody Takes Legal Action Against Meta to Protect Children
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