Sen Husted leads bill to protect children on social media

Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) joined Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) in introducing a bipartisan bill to empower parents to protect their children on social media platforms by providing them the right to know if their children are engaging in dangerous or risky interactions. Sammy’s Law would require large social media platforms to permit parents to receive safety notifications through FTC-regulated third-party safety providers, giving them the tools to shield their children from harm. Reps. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and Debbie Wasserman Shultz (D-Fla.) introduced the companion bill to Sammy’s Law in the U.S. House of Representatives. Sammy’s Law was introduced to give parents the tools to protect their children and other family members by:

• Requiring large social media platforms with either 100 million monthly active users or garner $1 billion in gross revenue per year to make real-time application programming interfaces accessible to Federal Trade Commission (FTC)-registered third-party safety software providers.

• Alerting parents when 15 specific instances or phrases arise that indicate eating disorders, suicidal ideation and sexual harassment.