Parents push Congress to act on kids' online safety after juries find Meta and YouTube liable for harm
Fresh off landmark jury decisions finding tech companies liable for harms on their platforms, some parents are making a renewed push for online safety legislation."I think parents are starting to...
By Fox News · Fox News
Fresh off landmark jury decisions finding tech companies liable for harms on their platforms, some parents are making a renewed push for online safety legislation. "I think parents are starting to wake up and see like, whoa, this is not a safe place for my child, and they want change," Julianna Arnold, founder of the advocacy group Parents RISE!, told Fox News Digital in an interview. Arnold was among roughly 70 parents blaming tech platforms for harming or killing their children who traveled to the U.S. Capitol this week to advocate for online safety legislation that would better protect minors. The group held a vigil outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday afternoon with many parents holding pictures of their deceased children. Arnold told Fox News Digital that she lost her 17-year-old daughter to fentanyl poisoning after a man approached her on Instagram and sold her what she thought was Percocet for her anxiety. CHRISTIAN MUSIC STAR LAUREN DAIGLE BRINGS ONLINE CHILD SAFETY FIGHT TO CAPITOL HILL, BACKS STOP CSAM ACT "Ever since then, I've been motivated to clean up these online spaces, because they’re no place for our children," Arnold said. "And now we're learning that even the way they’re designing these platforms is going to be harming our children, and they're doing it intentionally." A Los Angeles jury in March found both Meta and Google’s YouTube negligent for knowingly addicting and harming a young woman. Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, was also ordered to pay a $345 million fine after a New Mexico jury found the company failed to protect against child sexual exploitation and misled consumers about the safety of its platform. Meta and Google have vigorously pushed back on claims that their platforms are addictive and have vowed to appeal both rulings. Arnold attended the Los Angeles trial and said the unprecedented verdicts finding that platforms can be held responsible for content on their platforms "changed everything" for the online safety movemen…