Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., in a Newsmax interview, touted her bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act that she has introduced with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
She said, on Thursday's "Wake Up America": "This bill would require safety by design, so your default settings would all be on the safest settings.
"It would allow parents and kids to see this for themselves and to make these decisions and to end this constant barrage of videos and postings that push kids into depression, anxiety, self-harm eating disorders.
"We are having a mental-health crisis with teens in this country, and people are saying the research shows social media is a big part of this. Parents talk about the cyber bullying and the way kids are meeting drug dealers and pedophiles and sex traffickers online.
"They think that they are talking with other kids and they find out, no, these are adults who are up to no good.
"They are truly bad actors, so it would give a dedicated channel for parents to report. These are bad postings and these are tormentors that are going after these kids online. It would require social media to actually take an action and respond to these parents."
She predicted the bill would eventually end up on President Joe Biden's desk, where he would be compelled to sign it.
"We have been joined by one-third of the Senate that raised their hands before we ever got it filed, and said, Put me on this bill. I want to co-sponsor this.
"So you've got 33 members that are there. We have hundreds of organizations that have lined up, whether they're religious organizations, faith-based groups, healthcare, mental health, educational groups.
"You've got thousands of teens and parents that are talking to their members of the House and the Senate, saying, Pass this legislation. Let's get this done.
"I do expect Biden to sign this bill into law because you have so many parents who are saying something has to be done about this."
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Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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