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When my 16-year-old son Mason was going through a painful breakup, he did what many kids of his generation do: He turned to TikTok.
Mason used the social media site to search for positive affirmations and inspirational quotes. Instead, TikTok’s algorithm sent him the most horrific content urging suicide and self-harm. In November 2022, Mason took his own life.
What I found on his phone haunts me to this day, and TikTok – and all social media platforms – should be held accountable when their algorithms and design lead to significant harm.
Two decades of saying "just wait," while kids suffer, is no excuse to strip states’ rights. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Imagine my dismay when I learned that Congress, without public debate and under the radar, is now quietly pushing a sweeping federal moratorium that would block states from protecting kids from addictive algorithms that push pro-suicide and other harmful content and prevent acting on the next generation of online threats, even as tragic stories are already piling up.
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The moratorium is buried in a massive tech package, moving fast and with little scrutiny, before most Americans even realize what’s at stake. This moratorium would prohibit states from enforcing nearly any law related to AI – including laws that "regulate automated decision making."
That means blocking bills designed to empower parents, require safe default settings, require age verification and curb addictive design features.
It would halt laws like Florida’s Online Protections for Minors Act relating to online access to materials harmful to minors (HB 3).
It would limit New York’s Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act (S7694A), which prevents companies from providing kids and teens addictive, data-driven algorithmic feeds without parental consent.
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It would stop Utah’s Minor Protection in Social Media Act (S.B. 194), which requires companies not to recommend or share minors’ social media accounts and data to users they are not connected with.
The harms aren’t hypothetical. Just ask Megan Garcia, whose teenage son died after being targeted by AI-generated content. Or the countless families grappling with deepfakes used in sextortion, or with children drawn into relationships with AI "companions" that encourage isolation and self-harm. AI is already being used to manipulate, addict and deceive kids, and there are no guardrails.
Advocates may argue a federal AI framework is "right around the corner." We’ve heard similar arguments before – on privacy, on data, on content moderation – for 20 years. Two decades of saying "just wait," while kids suffer, is no excuse to strip states’ rights.
Congress has not passed a single law to protect kids online in over 25 years. Now it wants to take away the rights of states that have taken action, while framing AI as a global race to the finish line that overrides our children’s safety.
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Big Tech argues that a patchwork of state laws will stifle innovation – but what’s really at stake isn’t innovation, it’s accountability. These companies don’t want 50 sets of rules because they don’t want any rules. Plus, they’ve found allies in Congress willing to silence the states that have stepped up to protect families.
This moratorium is not just preemption of commonsense legislation to protect our young – it’s a total giveaway to Big Tech, done in the name of "innovation" and massive profits while ignoring the cost in lives.
There is a bipartisan amendment to strip this moratorium that would halt this reckless overreach and keep the door open for states to act when federal lawmakers won’t. All members of Congress should support this amendment before another child dies due to online harms. Saving kids' lives is not a political issue, it is a moral and human issue.
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We know what happens when Congress lets Big Tech regulate itself. Nothing. Kids suffer, and families like mine are left to pick up the pieces.
We need real safeguards for kids, not backroom deals that silence the only people taking real action to protect kids: parents, advocates and state leaders. This moratorium is a smokescreen for Big Tech to do as it pleases, and it must be stopped from becoming law.
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Jennie DeSerio, mother of Mason James Edens, forever 16, is a founding member of ParentsSOS and a strong advocate for social media reform.
