Amy Neville describes Kristin Bride as her "soulmate." But the day that forged their bond — June 23, 2020 — was the worst of each of their lives. Both Bride and Neville lost their teen sons that day. Their children lived a thousand miles apart and never met, but they both died from harms related to their social media use.
When the two mothers met early in their advocacy work to protect other kids, Bride said she had felt "totally alone." But they have since seen the online child safety movement blossom, with scores of other parents who lost children pursuing stronger social media safeguards and legislation. With that momentum, advocates say the tide seems to be turning.
A pair of landmark jury verdicts this year showed a way forward for holding tech companies accountable. And while the U.S. is nowhere near embracing social media bans for children like those seen from Australia to Indonesia, a push for regulation is simmering again in Congress.
"Moving forward for me, it's this groundswell. We now have the court of public opinion on our side, and that is powerful. That has brought things to the next level," Neville said in an interview.
What the Right Is Saying
Representatives from Meta, YouTube and TikTok did not immediately respond to messages for comment. Snap said in a written statement that it works continuously to strengthen safety protections across its platform.
Over the years, social media platforms have introduced some safety features including separating minors into teen accounts and providing even tighter restrictions for younger teenagers. Instagram now restricts teen accounts to viewing content that aligns with "PG-13" ratings and sets accounts to private by default, preventing messaging from strangers. YouTube has a separate kids app and parental controls on its regular platform that allow for "supervised kid accounts" for preteens who have aged out of YouTube Kids.
Hawley assailed his fellow Congress members for not doing more, saying "we all know why" they haven't acted — pointing to industry lobbying. The Senate Judiciary Committee has invited the CEOs of Meta, Alphabet, TikTok and Snap to testify at an upcoming hearing about children's safety on their platforms, asking in its title: "Is This Social Media's Big Tobacco Moment?"
Bergman acknowledged some progress while emphasizing more is needed. "Their fundamental incentive to design products that maximize engagement has not changed," he said. "Yes, there have been some improvements... We just need more of them."
What the Left Is Saying
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., advocated for the repeal of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which shields tech companies from legal responsibility for posted content. "It's the same reason that the companies want the kids online — it's money," said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., noting the technology industry provides campaign contributions to lawmakers and spends millions on lobbying annually.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said advocates and lawmakers need to "fight like hell for the living." Matthew Bergman, head of the Social Media Victims Law Center, which represents more than 1,000 plaintiffs in lawsuits against social media companies, said that while Section 230 remains a hurdle, "it is no longer a barrier" after recent court rulings allowed cases focusing on deliberate design choices to move forward.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., criticized the bipartisan Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act unveiled this week for being stripped of its most important provision — a legal term called "duty of care," which would require companies to take reasonable steps to prevent harm. "Without a duty of care, Big Tech companies will maintain the status quo of putting profit before the safety of our children," Blackburn said in a statement.
What the Numbers Show
Growing awareness of the dangers social media poses for young, developing brains has shown up in a wave of new restrictions globally: Australia, the U.K., Turkey, and Indonesia have passed bans on children under 16 or 15 from using platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.
In the United States, federal legislation has moved slowly. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which took effect in 2000, requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parents' consent before collecting personal information of children under 13 — a standard set more than two decades ago.
Two jury verdicts against Meta and one against Google have galvanized proponents for children's online safety. Evidence in the court cases revealed communications of employees who likened their products to drugs and casinos. The Los Angeles trial accusing social media platforms of causing deliberate harm to children was allowed to move forward as a watershed moment, according to Bergman.
On Tuesday, 272 children and young people who died because of online harms were honored in Washington, D.C., including Carson Bride and Alexander Neville. It was the sixth anniversary of their deaths, a date families have worked to establish as Social Media Victims Remembrance Day. Since 2024, the Senate has passed a resolution annually recognizing June 23 as Social Media Harms Victim Remembrance Day.
The Bottom Line
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hold a hearing with tech CEOs about children's safety on their platforms, marking what committee leadership calls a potential tipping point in public awareness. Bride said advocates employ a three-prong approach utilizing legislation, litigation and education so that "when one stalls, like legislation," they can continue pressing forward through other avenues.
The Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act represents the latest bipartisan legislative effort but faces criticism from some advocates who say it lacks the strongest protections. Parents like Neville and Bride plan to attend the upcoming congressional hearing and remain optimistic despite years of incremental progress.
"Every morning I wake up, lives are on the line," Neville said. "If we're not talking about these things, if we're not doing something about them, lives are on the line."