The Lead with Jake Tapper: Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) Is Interviewed About Online Safety Act To Protect Kids On Social Media
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Yes. And thank you so much, Jake, for covering the legislation. And we're so pleased to have the support of hundreds of organizations on this legislation. And we've made certain that this is focused on the process and that it is focused on how social media platforms are to perform that duty of care, have that standard and to make certain that children are and parents are going to have the ability to exercise what they need to prevent these algorithmic black boxes from pushing their children down certain routes that maybe the child does not want to go. But being certain there's transparency on those algorithms that, as you mentioned, that duty of care that is there, those are just primary components of this legislation.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
And what we know is the content moderators for these social media platforms are constantly working on this. And, Jake, we -- one of the things we found out, as we did five hearings with the social media platforms, as we talked to dozens and dozens of parents, is that many times parents or children would report to a social media platform that there was something that was encouraging self-harm or something that was illegal activity and the social media platform would do nothing.
That is why our legislation actually requires a dedicated channel, a pathway for this to be reported, and a requirement for the amount of time that the social media company has to respond so that you're able to remove some of these things. We've talked with parents who have reported some of these videos, these challenges, things that have caused death in children. And they never are responded to, or it takes weeks for the social media platform to come back.
And then they say something like, well, this doesn't violate our community standard. And when we hear about the mental health crisis that is taking place in this country, the increase in suicide, one in three, teenage girls having suicidal thoughts, when you read the CDC report, what you know is the actions that social media have been taking are not working. That is why we have to have this transparency, these accountabilities that are required of these platforms.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Thank you.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source