By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – A bill which aims to curb the dangers of social media to kids has passed an Illinois House committee.
Sammy’s Law is named after a teenager who died after ordering drugs laced with fentanyl on Snapchat. Marc Berkman represents the Organization for Social Media Safety and explained the bill would require social media companies to do something they don’t have to do now: allow third-party safety apps.
“There’s no guard rails on how this works without Sammy’s Law,” said Berkman. “So, most typically, how this happens now is that the content will flow to the chosen third-party safety software provider. That safety software provider is using an AI algorithm. Once it has a triggered alert over a specific risk, then it sends an alert to the parents.”
Rose Bronstein’s son took his own life after being cyberbullied. “On behalf of the families of Illinois,” she told the committee through tears Wednesday, “simply give parents the choice to protect our own children, and please help us save other children’s lives. Nobody was around or available or made the effort to save my child, but we have to make the effort to save others.
“This is now a matter of life and death.”
HB 5380 has passed the House Consumer Protection Committee.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].
