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Source: Congress.gov
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Around 95% of teenagers use social media and far too many have been cyber bullied or faced other harms online. This issue is personal. We have parents on both sides of the aisle and all of us represent families back home who have been unfortunately affected. In my home district, in the Tampa Bay area and also the nature coast, we lost 16-year-old McKenna Brown after relentless online bullying. Unacceptable. Her tragedy and the heartbreak of her family is a constant reminder of why we must act. It's because of countless stories like this that we're here today. We're considering nearly 20 bills today that together form a comprehensive strategy to protect kids and teens online.
Protect kids, empower parents, and future-proof our legislation as new risks and technologies emerge. Families deserve clarity, parents deserve control, and bad actors must face real consequences. The Kids Online Safety Act, or COSA, is among these bills, of course, a strong proposal with concrete safeguards and obligations for companies, and one I'm very proud to lead. But no single bill is a complete solution. These proposals work together, complementing and reinforcing one another to create the safest possible environment for children.
and information they need to keep their kids safe in a modern, increasingly complex environment. The status quo is unacceptable, and we are here to change and ensure meaningful consequences for platforms that fail to protect our kids. Today is about progress. It's about setting aside differences and doing right by the families who are counting on us. I'm confident that while working together, we can advance meaningful bipartisan solutions that give parents peace of mind and make the online world safer for every child. I appreciate the hard work of my colleagues, and I look forward to continuing this effort in the days ahead. With that, I yield back, and I'll recognize the ranking member of the full committee, Ms. Schakowsky, for her five minutes for an opening statement.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, but I want to tell you from the get-go, I am furious. I think the legislation that has been proposed is terribly inadequate. We're leaving out states who want to participate to try and help the children. We want to listen carefully to the parents. Once again, parents who are here who have sadly seen their children die because of what has happened, because I'm so angry at big tech who continues to allow the kinds of things that are happening to happen, and we have to do better. There is no question about it. And so among the things that I want to say is that we do have to allow states to participate. It doesn't mean anything if we take out all the states who have been working hard. And I think that that is a major lax in what is happening right now. We know the children are in fact dying. And I don't understand how the big tech companies continue to participate in allowing things and not to prohibiting the kind of activities that we have been seeing. I think that it is wrong right now for us to continue with the legislation that is on the page today.
that we are talking about because it leaves out the big issues that we are fighting for. I want to thank the two women that are here, but they are just not minor, major, but they are spokespeople for hundreds and hundreds of people who are not protected. And we see that big tech is part of allowing these things to happen.
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