JUST IN: Blumenthal And Blackburn Hold Press Conference To Promote The Kids Online Safety Act
On Thursday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) held a press conference to answer questions on the Kids Online Safety Act.
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NewsTranscript
00:00The rule of construction, as you can see, is typical.
00:06This is a law, a bill, to block free speech.
00:08So we're going to pass a bill to block free speech,
00:11and to block the free speech on the floor of the Senate,
00:14and disallow that bill.
00:17In America, what people need more of is to limit this bill
00:21and to protect political, social, and religious speech.
00:25That's what they're actually saying.
00:28So we're going to pass a bill to block this bill,
00:30and they are not going to allow
00:32accepting political, social, and religious speech.
00:36That means limiting the rule of construction
00:40to allow political, social, and religious speech.
00:44So we're going to pass a bill to block free speech.
00:47So we're going to pass a bill to block free speech.
00:50So we're going to pass a bill to block free speech.
00:53Okay.
01:10We can do that, and go ahead.
01:12Well, yeah, I know Senator Blumenthal will be down.
01:16Why don't you get rolling,
01:18and we'll just have Senator Blumenthal jump in.
01:20That's what I had thought we would do.
01:27Y'all come on up.
01:28We'll get set up.
01:31There you are.
01:32Okay.
01:34All right.
01:35Let me let you go ahead and start.
01:38No, go ahead.
01:41I know they're monitoring.
01:42Be sure you've done that.
01:43Okay.
01:51Well, you know the old saying,
01:53a picture's worth a thousand words.
01:56This picture is worth a thousand words.
02:00I want to thank, above all, the parents and young people
02:06who have brought us to this day.
02:08You've done it.
02:09We're going to get a vote.
02:10And we're going to get more than one vote.
02:13We're going to get votes here,
02:15and then we're going to get votes in the House,
02:17and we are going to pass this measure.
02:19And it will be a tribute to your courage and your strength,
02:25your persistence and your perseverance.
02:28And it also will be a tribute to the democratic process.
02:35We can get things done.
02:38Bipartisanship is still alive and well
02:42in our United States Congress and our democracy.
02:49I am deeply grateful to all of you for sharing your stories.
02:54Your faces and voices have made it possible for us to get this vote.
02:59I want to thank Senator Schumer.
03:01He made a promise.
03:03He kept it not just with word but with his heart
03:09and with passion that has enabled us to have a deep
03:16and broad bipartisan majority in favor of this bill.
03:20It is really just about empowering young people and parents
03:26to take back control over their lives online,
03:30to make choices that will enable them to disconnect from the evil
03:38that has been driven at them by social media,
03:42and to say to big tech,
03:46we no longer trust you to make decisions for us.
03:51We no longer trust your promises that you will take care of it.
03:56We've seen this movie before.
03:58We know how it ends.
04:00No real results.
04:02And the reason is we've seen from their own documents,
04:05their own files, their own evidence that their business model
04:09is to get more eyeballs for longer periods of time
04:16so they get more advertisers and more dollars,
04:20knowing that those profits are derived from destroying lives,
04:26destroying lives of your children.
04:33Now, we can't bring back those lives, but we can save others.
04:38And I am haunted by one of the moms who said to us,
04:49I think speaking on behalf of everyone,
04:53when will you stop them from killing people?
04:58When will you stop them from killing our children?
05:00Today we take a step in that direction by giving you the tools and safeguards
05:06so you and your children can make choices,
05:11giving big tech a duty of care,
05:16requiring them to prevent or mitigate the harms that are occurring,
05:21and opening these black box algorithms so that we know how they work.
05:29And this bill is not about censorship.
05:32It is truly about product design, as I just said on the floor of the Senate.
05:41Product design applies across the board to things that are sold to Americans.
05:48It's one of our principles that we protect against defective products that we know cause harm.
05:56Car manufacturers are required to install seat belts and airbags.
06:04The same has to be true of social media.
06:08We need to impose these kinds of safeguards and impose that duty of care.
06:18I am really hopeful about the path ahead.
06:24I am hopeful because of the big bipartisan majority that we have today for this bill.
06:33But most important, I'm hopeful because you will continue to be our advocates.
06:38You will be our champions.
06:40You are our leaders and our lodestar, and we're going to continue this fight.
06:46And I want to say that I am immensely grateful to Senator Blackburn,
06:54who has been an incomparably important and valuable, true partner in this effort,
07:02and I thank her for all she's done.
07:06Absolutely.
07:08And what fun to see.
07:16We know your tears.
07:21And hearing your sobs, it is really gratitude.
07:29So we thank you.
07:34And I think Big Tech is making their last gasp push on the floor.
07:44But you all are cool.
07:46You're winning.
07:48And we're happy to be a part.
07:51Thank you so much.
07:56Thank you so much, both of you.
08:00Hello, everyone.
08:02My name is Juliana Arnold, and I live in New York, just outside of the city.
08:07I am a member of Parents SOS, and I'm glad to be here with you all making this very, very momentous occasion.
08:19Two years ago, when she was just 17, I lost my daughter, Coco,
08:25after an Instagram drug dealer sold her counterfeit Percocet laced with fentanyl.
08:32Needless to say, her loss shattered our family.
08:37No parent should ever have to go through this.
08:40Outliving your child is like pain of no other.
08:45And I miss Coco desperately.
08:48The only way through this suffering, though, has been for me to find some sort of purpose.
08:53And advocating for the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act has served that for me.
08:59I am driven, like most of the parents in our organization, by a fierce, fierce need to ensure that no other family experiences the agony that we have endured.
09:11Thanks to Leader Schumer and COSPA's original co-sponsors, Senator Blackburn and Blumenthal, Markey and Cassidy,
09:21we are closer now than ever to making this a reality.
09:25With Senate's historic vote to pass COSPA, which we expect early next week,
09:31all we need now is the House to follow suit, passing COSPA as soon as possible.
09:38Critics of COSPA have tried every sort of tactic to prevent its passage.
09:43Lately, some are saying this process has been rushed.
09:46But I believe, as the Senators mentioned, this has been long in the works.
09:50It couldn't be further from the truth.
09:53Senators Blackburn and Blumenthal introduced COSA two years ago.
09:58Since then, it has been thoroughly vetted and revised multiple times to secure the broad bipartisan support it has now both within the House of Congress and without.
10:10And while our elected leaders were working away on the Hill, we parents have traveled to D.C. over and over again.
10:18We have met with countless lawmakers, written too many letters to what's even imaginable,
10:24published scores of op-eds in newspapers across the country,
10:29and sat for interview after interview with journalists from every major outlet in America.
10:35We have mustered our courage to tell the story of the absolute worst day of our lives.
10:42As many times as needed in order to honor our children's memories and save other children's lives.
10:50Getting COSPA to this point has not been done in haste whatsoever, and it really hasn't been easy.
10:57But I couldn't be prouder to stand here today with my fellow parents.
11:02See how close we are to the finish line.
11:05Now let's get this done, pass this bill once and for all, and let's make it law.
11:11With that action, let's say for the last time that children's lives are more precious than any penny Big Tech will make at their expense.
11:22Thank you very much, and I would now like to introduce my fellow parent from Parents SOS, Todd Minor.
11:38Good afternoon.
11:41My name is Todd Minor, Sr., and I'm here with my wife Mia.
11:45We lost our 12-year-old son Matthew to an online viral challenge on TikTok and YouTube.
11:53This was after he was allowed access to the Internet for just one hour.
11:58The never-ending pain of his loss and never seeing his smiling face, coupled with the tragic memories of performing CPR on him to try to save his life, stays with us every day.
12:15We heard from many of Matthew's classmates and friends that they could not turn off seeing these online challenges when they were on social media.
12:24They felt there was no way out.
12:28It was then that we decided that we would not rest until America's youth was safe from online harms on social media.
12:37We never want another family to experience the tragedies we have due to social media and Big Tech.
12:44Unlike Big Tech, COSPA puts children and youth's lives and families' safety before profits.
12:54The progress on COSPA we have seen in recent weeks and months is a culmination of hard work over the past couple years by us, our fellow survivor parents, advocates, and Senators Schumer, Blackburn, Blumenthal, Markey, and Cassidy, all true heroes in my book.
13:17We've heard some opponents of the bill talk about how this is being done in haste and how it's rushed.
13:25Not one of us who have gone through what we have gone through and what we have experienced the pain would agree with that.
13:35I stand here before you as a witness of the challenging work and sleepless nights it took to get here.
13:45I remember the numerous but productive trips to Capitol Hill and the long nights staying up and drafting our respective op-eds.
13:55After all that, we still prepared for interviews and speaking engagements to continue spreading the word about COSPA and online child safety.
14:06We also supported each other through calls and texts, through our rough times, remembering our children and youth who are no longer with us.
14:22But we still needed to do our part toward the great mission, passage ACOSA.
14:29Our tragedy, this great work, the passage of COSPA has brought us together as brothers and sisters.
14:38Strong leadership makes our country strong.
14:42Senators Schumer, Blackburn, Blumenthal, Markey, and Cassidy provide that leadership and we appreciate you.
14:53On behalf of Matthew, Parents SOS, America's Youth, Mia and I look forward to COSPA's passage in the Senate and also in the House.
15:05Hello, everyone.
15:17My name is Isabel Sunderland and I'm a youth advocate with Design It For Us.
15:21Today, I want to share my story and join the calls of people from every single walk of life in urging Senate to pass the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act immediately.
15:32For too long, we have seen that big tech has long succeeded at selling us the idea that regulation, or at least strong regulation for that matter, is not needed.
15:41They have evaded responsibility by arguing that users on their platforms have a platter of choices ahead of them.
15:48They argue that young people can choose to log off or log on.
15:52They can choose their own adventure.
15:54We can choose who we want to meet with or who we don't want to talk with.
15:57But I want to set the record straight right now.
15:59On the long list of priorities that big tech has, user choice is at the bottom.
16:06You see, we don't have a choice.
16:09We don't have a choice when these companies have finally engineered their platforms to manipulate young people into staying on their sites longer as they deliver vicious platters of addictive, divisive and harmful content.
16:23We don't have a choice when they pursue padding their pockets, portfolios and platforms and these companies have auctioned off our attention spans and our generation to the highest bidder.
16:33It wasn't a choice when I was recommended body image content that lured me into believing that I wasn't enough, that my body wasn't enough, my face didn't look the right way, that I wasn't pretty enough.
16:46For me, it was seeing a notification that might nudge me to open the app.
16:51It would then encourage me to view my feed with the promise that I would see what my friends are up to, view cool things that I don't want to do.
16:59It was scrolling and scrolling and scrolling because maybe it was a hard day.
17:03Maybe because I just wanted to relax because something in the back of my mind told me that I might find something that would make it worth it.
17:11And soon, it never took long, those harmless videos started to change.
17:18They would first start recommending me simple things such as the best skincare routines, maybe the best workouts to get fit and toned.
17:27Then advertisements diagramming which part of my body I should target with what kind of foods.
17:32Beauty challenges where I could morph my face into whatever way I wanted to look like and compare it to another person.
17:38I was seeing videos telling me what I was supposed to look like and when I would click I don't want to see this anymore, I would be shown it all the more.
17:46Because the truth is we don't get a choice.
17:48You can't turn it off and put it in your pocket and forget about it because the odds are stacked against you.
17:55At their core, big tech has created a business model that profits off of brokenness.
18:01See the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act disrupts this business model.
18:07It places kids at the center and it's a crucial piece of bipartisan legislation that we must pass yesterday that we should pass now too.
18:15See this legislation doesn't ban social media.
18:18It doesn't do away with the internet, doesn't censor free speech or deprive us of the ability to enjoy the fundamentally good parts of the internet.
18:25The parts where we see connection, compassion and community.
18:29But it does give us the power to shape our experiences online.
18:33It moves choice to the top of that priority list.
18:36It changes the dynamic and makes it a safer environment for our generation.
18:41Senators, today I urge us to pass the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act.
18:46It's a crucial piece of bipartisan legislation.
18:49I thank the advocates and the parents and the senators that are standing with me in this room because we're not finished yet.
18:56Because I'm also looking to the House of Representatives and I'm urging my representatives to vote in favor of this bill and resolve the differences by the end of this year.
19:07Folks, we know that every single second that we wait.
19:10That's another team, another family, another story where the value of a choice, the empowerment of a choice could make all the difference.
19:19So today I urge us to pass this crucial piece of bipartisan legislation.
19:29Good job.
19:31Are there any questions?
19:33Yes.
19:34Thank you, Senator.
19:35Leader Jeffries today mentioned that he was kind of, maybe they might take up some sort of handy bill on the House side concerning the Kids Online Safety Act.
19:45What's your message to House lawmakers about pushing this forward when they return eventually in September?
19:52We have broad bipartisan support in the House.
19:56We feel good about that.
19:58We know that Congressman Bill Arrakis and Congresswoman Castor have done a good bit of work.
20:06I've talked with a lot of those former House colleagues, and they are ready to move forward on this.
20:14They want a vote on the floor, so we're encouraged by that and by support from leadership to move this forward.
20:25My message is even simpler.
20:29Listen to the parents.
20:31I have a son named Matthew.
20:35We all have sons and daughters.
20:38We know how vulnerable they can be.
20:42There, but for the grace of God, goes every one of us.
20:46You have a responsibility to listen to these parents and to young people who are coming forward.
20:54And if you look at the numbers in the Senate vote, you'll get on the right side of history.
21:03Senator, some of your colleagues have raised concerns about free speech or expression as a result of this bill.
21:09What is your response to those concerns?
21:13There are endless myths and misconceptions that have been spread, and they're continuing to do it by the armies of lawyers and lobbyists.
21:23The tech is hired because they want to protect their profits.
21:26We want to protect children.
21:28There's no censorship in this bill.
21:31It's about product design.
21:32There is no invasion of privacy in this bill.
21:36We've chosen not to collect information from kids.
21:44It's not a speech bill.
21:46It is a content-neutral bill.
21:49There is no rule-making authority in this bill.
21:53And as you all were watching us on the floor, these were some of the points that we were making,
22:00that there were misrepresentations of what the bill actually does.
22:07It doesn't give new powers to the state attorneys general.
22:13It doesn't give new powers to the FTC.
22:17Pardon me.
22:18And it doesn't give the government more authority.
22:20And as Senator Blumenthal said, this is about product design.
22:25This is about duty of care.
22:30Senators, could you just speak to the history of the moment,
22:33considering this is the first time social media companies will be facing the new requirements in this way?
22:38In over two decades, will the first social media company be engaged in probation?
22:44The history is the vote bell is going off.
22:49Yeah, let me just say, you know, the bell is tolling for big tech.
22:56And ask not for whom the bell tolls.
22:59It tolls for thee and us.
23:02It is a historic moment because, very seriously,
23:07Congress is finally imposing some accountability on an industry that has gone totally nonresponsible and irresponsible for decades now.
23:21It is the first reform in decades, and it is high time that we take this vote.
23:30And if you'll excuse us, we'll do it.