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Canton mother says law that cleared senate would have saved her son’s life

Posted 7/31/24

CANTON – Mary Rodee, a Canton mother who lost her 15-year-old son to suicide after the teenager was targeted online, said if the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) that passed in the state Senate on …

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Canton mother says law that cleared senate would have saved her son’s life

Posted

CANTON – Mary Rodee, a Canton mother who lost her 15-year-old son to suicide after the teenager was targeted online, said if the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) that passed in the state Senate on Tuesday, July 30, had been in place, her son would be alive today.

Her son, Riley K. Basford, was a sophomore at Potsdam Central School, when he committed suicide in 2021.

“The vote in the Senate to pass the Kids Online Safety & Privacy Act is historic. It is the first time in more than 25 years that our lawmakers have passed any regulation on social media platforms at all. I know it will save lives and I know it would have saved my son Riley. The bill’s ‘duty of care’ provision forces Big Tech companies to prioritize the well-being of their users over the size of their bank accounts. They should have been willing to do this on their own but, sadly, showed us time and again they were not. Thankfully, KOSA gives them no choice,” Rodee remarked.

“I’m hopeful, I want the house to pick this up and pass it and get this done with Biden who says he cares about kids online safety,” she said.

Rodee believes the hard work and persistence definitely paid off.

“I’m not much for getting too excited but I feel relief and that the travel and grief growth of telling our story over and over have all been worthwhile. Being part of the first legislation to pass Congress in 25 years. I really think that he was talking about Riley,” Rodee stated. “A lot of credit was given to leader Schumer for getting this done. I wish I could understand the ins and outs of it but I don’t. “

The U.S. Senate also passed the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0).

Sen. Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, who worked with families and advocates to garner support for this legislation, made the announcement on July 30.

He explained these bipartisan bills are the most robust federal tech reforms for children in decades, and will institute a set of safeguards, accountability, and privacy measures that shield children in New York and across the country from the harms created by social media companies and other online platforms.  

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) will create more requirements for platforms to create a safe online environment for kids and teens. The bipartisan bill will:

  • Require platforms to give kids and teens the option to protect their data and opt out of algorithmic recommendations.
  • Allow parents to control how their kids’ information is used and require platforms to create a dedicated channel to report harmful behavior.
  • Obligate platforms to prevent and mitigate dangers to minors by limiting the promotion of harmful behavior such as suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, and sexual exploitation.
  • Require independent audits to research how social media platforms impact kids’ and teens’ mental health and well-being. 

The Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) strengthens online privacy protections for kids and teens. The bipartisan bill builds on the original Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act signed into law in 1998 which created protections for children under the age of 13, and will:

  • Prohibit internet companies from collecting data from users under the age of 17 without their consent, increasing the age from COPPA’s legislation.
  • Ban advertising that targets kids and teens.
  • Revise the requirement established in COPPA that obligates platforms to protect kids and teens if they have “actual knowledge” of their age, instead covering all platforms that are “reasonably likely to be used” by kids and teens.
  • Require companies to allow the deletion of data for kids and teens when possible by creating an “eraser button.”