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Democrats Allowing Children to be Exploited Online · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: There is a new warning out for children in this country,
0:05
Speaker 1: and if you're a parent or a grandparent, you need
0:07
Speaker 1: to understand what is happening to so many kids right now,
0:11
Speaker 1: and it is really being underreported on. It is kids
0:14
Speaker 1: that are taking their own lives because they are being
0:17
Speaker 1: bullied online with content that many times is explicit in
0:22
Speaker 1: nature and actually is not even the child that is
0:28
Speaker 1: being targeted by their peers. It is AI and deep
0:32
Speaker 1: fake technology. There are people now and the air programs
0:36
Speaker 1: and their websites, and there are places that you can
0:38
Speaker 1: go for free and take the face of someone you
0:42
Speaker 1: know and put it on the body of someone else
0:45
Speaker 1: that is doing explicit content or activity. There is also
0:50
Speaker 1: something else that's called revenge pornography, and that is where
0:54
Speaker 1: maybe you had something that was supposed to stay private
0:57
Speaker 1: between you and someone else, and then someone gets angry
1:00
Speaker 1: or gets broken up with or the relationship goes sideways,
1:05
Speaker 1: and people will then post it online to get revenge
1:09
Speaker 1: on that person. This is also causing a significant amount
1:15
Speaker 1: of harm to so many kids that are in this
1:19
Speaker 1: country now having to deal with what happens online and
1:23
Speaker 1: on social media. There is new legislation that I want
1:27
Speaker 1: to tell you about, and it is important legislation that
1:31
Speaker 1: I need you to get behind and call your congressman
1:34
Speaker 1: and your center now Center. Ted Cruz is going to
1:37
Speaker 1: join me to talk about that in a few minutes,
1:39
Speaker 1: but I wanted to lay that out there for you.
1:41
Speaker 1: There's also something else politically that's happening, and that is
1:45
Speaker 1: we are seeing some new data here. And I mentioned
1:47
Speaker 1: on the show before that Barack Obama coming in to
1:51
Speaker 1: try to save Joe Biden actually may have made things
1:54
Speaker 1: worse because of how senile Joe Biden looked on stage.
1:58
Speaker 1: Now we're going to talk about that, but there's something
2:00
Speaker 1: else it's happening. When they brought in Barack Obama, they
2:03
Speaker 1: were hoping specifically that he would be able to stop
2:08
Speaker 1: the bleeding with the African American vote that is leaving
2:13
Speaker 1: Joe Biden at record numbers, and where they're going they
2:16
Speaker 1: are actually going to Donald Trump. The support among minorities
2:20
Speaker 1: right now is at a historic high for a Republican
2:23
Speaker 1: presidential candidate in the Hispanic community as well as the
2:27
Speaker 1: African American community. We're going to get into that also
2:31
Speaker 1: now before we get into the deep fake aspect of this,
2:34
Speaker 1: I want to lay some groundwork, and just so you
2:38
Speaker 1: understand how bad it's gotten online for so many kids
2:42
Speaker 1: in this country. Los Angeles, Okay, not exactly, like a
2:47
Speaker 1: conservative bastion of elected officials has now come out in
2:52
Speaker 1: their unified school district and they have just banned cell
2:56
Speaker 1: phones and they have also just and social media in
3:02
Speaker 1: the classroom. The Los Angeles School District voted five to
3:06
Speaker 1: two in favor of banning cell phones and social media
3:09
Speaker 1: use during the day, amid a massive outcry from educators
3:14
Speaker 1: about the harm that is doing to kids, specifically when
3:17
Speaker 1: it comes to bullying, but also when it comes to
3:20
Speaker 1: their education. Now, this ban in Los Angeles, again, this
3:24
Speaker 1: is a liberal city with a liberal, liberal, liberal ideology
3:31
Speaker 1: and school board. What they have now said is this
3:34
Speaker 1: is going to go into effect in the spring of
3:36
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five and goes beyond the previous district policy
3:39
Speaker 1: of only banning cell phones during class instruction while limited
3:43
Speaker 1: social media, while limiting social media to quote educational purposes. Now,
3:49
Speaker 1: the ban comes following a Pew Research Center Institute research
3:55
Speaker 1: paper showing that seventy two percent of high school teachers
4:00
Speaker 1: in the United States believe cell phone use has become
4:03
Speaker 1: a quote major problem inside of their classrooms because kids
4:10
Speaker 1: now have the ability with their phones and with their
4:13
Speaker 1: iPods and are their earbuds, i should say, and their
4:17
Speaker 1: watches to constantly be on social media while they're supposed
4:21
Speaker 1: to be learning. How would you like to know that
4:25
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5:36
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5:39
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Speaker 1: com slash ben. That's Patriot Mobile dot com slash ben. Now,
6:21
Speaker 1: the previous policy that I just mentioned took effect in
6:24
Speaker 1: twenty eleven and became relatively toothless in the face of
6:29
Speaker 1: smartphones used exploited over the past decade, where many are
6:34
Speaker 1: claiming well, hey, it's for educational purposes, so I need
6:38
Speaker 1: my phone. Quote. Our students are glued to their cell phones,
6:43
Speaker 1: not unlike adult said board member Nick Melvaughn, who supports
6:47
Speaker 1: the band, saying quote, they're scrolling in school in class time,
6:53
Speaker 1: they have their head in their hands, walking down the hallways.
6:56
Speaker 1: They're not talking to each other or playing at lunch
6:59
Speaker 1: or reys because they have their air pods in district
7:03
Speaker 1: members supporting the band wrote that research shows quote excessive
7:07
Speaker 1: cell phone use impacts adolescents mental health and well being
7:11
Speaker 1: and is associated with increased stress, anxiety, depression, sleep issues,
7:18
Speaker 1: feelings of aggression, and suicidal thoughts. Let me say that again,
7:22
Speaker 1: because if you're a parent or grandparent, you really need
7:25
Speaker 1: to understand what you are up against. Right now. The
7:29
Speaker 1: use of a cell phone and excessive cell phone use
7:32
Speaker 1: has now become the norm among kids. It impacts mental
7:37
Speaker 1: health and the well being of your child or grandchild,
7:40
Speaker 1: and it is directly now associated with increased stress, anxiety, depression,
7:48
Speaker 1: sleep issues, feelings of aggression, and the worst one, suicidal thoughts.
7:54
Speaker 1: Research indicates the limiting cell phone usage and social media
8:00
Speaker 1: access during the school day increases academic performance and has
8:06
Speaker 1: positive effects on student mental health. Parents express concerns, of course,
8:12
Speaker 1: that the blanket band could put their children at risk
8:15
Speaker 1: in the case of an emergency. By the way, we
8:17
Speaker 1: survived and had fewer emergencies when we didn't have cell phones,
8:21
Speaker 1: And if a kid needs to get in touch with
8:22
Speaker 1: a parent, it's not hard. You can go to the
8:25
Speaker 1: office and make that phone call. Quote. I think in
8:28
Speaker 1: emergencies and with parent communication, this is definitely where a
8:32
Speaker 1: lot of parents have expressed their concerns to me that
8:35
Speaker 1: one school board member said, I think it's such a
8:38
Speaker 1: tragic sign of the times that is that what we
8:41
Speaker 1: initially think of, and we all need to do better
8:44
Speaker 1: in this country when it comes to he says, gun
8:46
Speaker 1: violence prevention and keeping our students safe. Now, I'm not
8:49
Speaker 1: going to go in on the gun violence issue right now.
8:52
Speaker 1: We can save that for another show. But what this
8:55
Speaker 1: fools down to is they're telling you and warning you
8:59
Speaker 1: that you're the kid's cell phone is not only used
9:03
Speaker 1: to exploit your child, to attack your child. Your kids
9:08
Speaker 1: dealing with anxiety and depression and suicidal thoughts from having
9:12
Speaker 1: these phones twenty four to seven and the bullying that
9:14
Speaker 1: comes along with it. But they're also, and this is
9:17
Speaker 1: extremely important, not getting a education. They're not receiving a
9:26
Speaker 1: quality education because they're all on their phones. Twenty four
9:30
Speaker 1: to seven. I was sitting at the pool recently with
9:35
Speaker 1: my kids. My kids are younger seven to five, and
9:39
Speaker 1: there was a birthday party and it was a birthday
9:42
Speaker 1: party for I'm guessing the kid was thirteen or fourteen.
9:46
Speaker 1: It was a large birthday party. It was probably ten
9:50
Speaker 1: to fifteen kids that were of each sex, boys and girls.
9:54
Speaker 1: And what was shocking in the moment that I witnessed
9:59
Speaker 1: this birthday party was none of the kids were swimming.
10:03
Speaker 1: They were all quote eating dinner at that point, at
10:06
Speaker 1: part in the point, at that point in the party,
10:08
Speaker 1: not a single one of the boys was speaking to
10:11
Speaker 1: any of the other boys. And they were completely isolated
10:15
Speaker 1: from the girls whose party. It was. So the boys
10:18
Speaker 1: showed up and they were all sitting on their cell phones.
10:24
Speaker 1: None of them were talking to one another, none of them.
10:31
Speaker 1: You think about, you go to a birthday party and
10:35
Speaker 1: all of these kids, thirteen, fourteen, whatever, they were, all
10:40
Speaker 1: of them on their phones. Not a single one of
10:42
Speaker 1: the men boys were conversing with one another. They weren't
10:46
Speaker 1: even showing each other things on their phones. They literally
10:51
Speaker 1: were all sitting there eating the food at the party,
10:55
Speaker 1: not talking to anyone else. This is just how bad
10:58
Speaker 1: it's gotten. And it's not just that it is making
11:02
Speaker 1: it where these kids do not know how to have conversations.
11:05
Speaker 1: They don't know how to have eye contact, they don't
11:08
Speaker 1: know how to converse with one another, they don't know
11:11
Speaker 1: how to communicate in basic I guess you could say
11:14
Speaker 1: terms that is the biggest problem here that I see
11:18
Speaker 1: with all of this. Now, let me just say this.
11:22
Speaker 1: You look at what's happening in our schools and you
11:26
Speaker 1: can can directly tie it to this other issue and
11:30
Speaker 1: this legislation that is incredibly important legislation that we desperately need,
11:39
Speaker 1: that is bipartisan now to protect people online and when
11:44
Speaker 1: someone is putting out information about them that is horrific
11:48
Speaker 1: or embarrassing, you need a way to take it down online.
11:52
Speaker 1: And right now, if you're the victim of this exploitation,
11:58
Speaker 1: it is virtually impossible to get it taken down online.
12:02
Speaker 1: Take a listen to what Senata Cruz had to say
12:05
Speaker 1: about this legislation that all of you need to get behind.
12:09
Speaker 1: I want to start with painting a picture here, especially
12:12
Speaker 1: so people understand just how important this bipartisan legislation is.
12:17
Speaker 1: You're working with Amy Klobuchar introducing the tools to address
12:22
Speaker 1: known exploitation of innocent people. This has become a moneymaker online,
12:28
Speaker 1: by the way, for people that want to do this
12:31
Speaker 1: to celebrities. We saw that recently happened with Taylor Swift
12:36
Speaker 1: and it really brought to light just how damaging these
12:39
Speaker 1: deep fakes can be. And and these and this this
12:43
Speaker 1: kind of revenge that some people will take on on
12:46
Speaker 1: X's and others or people they just want to harm
12:48
Speaker 1: or or even just make money off of. But there's
12:51
Speaker 1: also I know people personally who have been affected by
12:55
Speaker 1: this that are not famous, that are not a celebrity,
12:59
Speaker 1: and it has ruined the reputation. We have seen warnings
13:03
Speaker 1: from parents on the issue of suicide with young girls,
13:07
Speaker 1: young teens, young boys who have had been exploited in
13:10
Speaker 1: this way with things that aren't real, that are fake,
13:13
Speaker 1: and they can't get them taken down. They are then
13:15
Speaker 1: bullied and it's been tragic and cost many young people
13:18
Speaker 1: their lives. And that's why you guys are doing this.
13:21
Speaker 2: Well, that's exactly right, and I'll tell you one of
13:23
Speaker 2: the major things that brought this issue to my attention.
13:27
Speaker 2: What was actually a call we got from a constituent,
13:30
Speaker 2: a mom, a family that live in North Texas and
13:32
Speaker 2: Alito and her daughter. A fourteen year old girl was targeted,
13:37
Speaker 2: targeted by a classmate, a classmate that took her face
13:42
Speaker 2: and her image from social media, from Snapchat and other
13:45
Speaker 2: social media and used AI use deep fake technology to
13:50
Speaker 2: graft her face onto explicit nude images that were not
13:54
Speaker 2: her and publicized those to all of her classmates. She's
14:00
Speaker 2: fourteen years old. This poor girl goes into school with
14:03
Speaker 2: all of her classmates but believing that they've seen explicit
14:07
Speaker 2: sexual images of her and it was a total lie.
14:10
Speaker 2: But obviously it traumatized this this this teenage girl significantly
14:15
Speaker 2: as any as any young person what er for that matter,
14:18
Speaker 2: most adults would that that that is a horrific experience
14:22
Speaker 2: to go through and and listen, there's always been the
14:25
Speaker 2: ability for someone to photoshop and you know, put put
14:29
Speaker 2: Ben Ferguson's head on Arnold Schwarzenegger's body. And by the way,
14:33
Speaker 2: that was you and Connan the Barbarian. I was really impressed. Ben.
14:37
Speaker 2: You should not punch the camel. I'm gonna sick pete on.
14:40
Speaker 2: You punch you a camel is a bad move. But look,
14:44
Speaker 2: if you graft your head onto a different body, it
14:46
Speaker 2: was fairly obvious to someone someone watching. What's changed is
14:52
Speaker 2: with the deep fake technology, it can now look completely
14:57
Speaker 2: real that people can look at it and go do food.
15:00
Speaker 2: I didn't know Ferguson was so ripped and that here's
15:05
Speaker 2: an amazing stat. Up to ninety five percent of all
15:11
Speaker 2: Internet deep fake videos depict non consensual intimate images, up
15:18
Speaker 2: to ninety five percent, and the vast majority of them
15:21
Speaker 2: target women and girls. And so this is becoming a tool,
15:24
Speaker 2: a tool for cyber bullying, a tool for attacking, maybe
15:28
Speaker 2: attacking an ex girlfriend or an ex wife or an
15:30
Speaker 2: ex partner that you're mad at and using it just
15:33
Speaker 2: to smear them and attack them. And so this bill,
15:37
Speaker 2: I've introduced it along with Amy klobachar Amy Clobchard as
15:40
Speaker 2: a Democrat, as you know, from Minnesota. It's also co
15:44
Speaker 2: sponsored by Cynthia Lummis, who's a Republican from Wyoming, Richard Blumenthal,
15:48
Speaker 2: who's a Democrat from Connecticut. Shelley Moore Capito is a
15:52
Speaker 2: Republican from West Virginia and Jackie Rosen who's a Democrat
15:55
Speaker 2: from Nevada. So we brought together both Republicans and Democrats.
16:00
Speaker 2: And the two elements of this are number one, making
16:02
Speaker 2: it a crime, making it a felony to publish non
16:06
Speaker 2: consensual intimate images without without consent, again against someone's wishes.
16:11
Speaker 2: But number two, as I mentioned, and I think this
16:14
Speaker 2: is the piece. So there's other bills people have introduced
16:17
Speaker 2: that make it a crime to do so, and so
16:19
Speaker 2: there are multiple bills and I'm a co sponsor of
16:21
Speaker 2: other bills to do that. That's a good idea. The
16:24
Speaker 2: piece that is not reflected in any other legislation I
16:27
Speaker 2: know of that's been filed is the take it down component,
16:31
Speaker 2: which is the obligation on the social media company or
16:37
Speaker 2: the big tech company to take the content down.
16:41
Speaker 1: And so well, and victims have said this to me,
16:43
Speaker 1: and say this to you, is it's one thing that
16:46
Speaker 1: someone does it. It's another thing when there's no mechanism
16:49
Speaker 1: to take it down when you see it, when it's
16:51
Speaker 1: being used against you. We saw this recently with a
16:55
Speaker 1: doctor and nurses and they were used and they tried
16:58
Speaker 1: to get it taken down, and they could get it
17:00
Speaker 1: taken down. Like you just said, there's no incentive in
17:05
Speaker 1: essence for these big tech comings to even care or
17:08
Speaker 1: notice or respond to you.
17:11
Speaker 2: Well, look, that's exactly right. And as we all know,
17:15
Speaker 2: this happened to Taylor Swift. So Taylor Swift, you had
17:17
Speaker 2: people who took her image and made deep fake, false,
17:22
Speaker 2: explicit images. And because Taylor Swift is a global superstar,
17:26
Speaker 2: she spoke out and big tech took it all down.
17:29
Speaker 2: So if you happen to be a global superstar, you
17:32
Speaker 2: can get it taken down. But if you're just an
17:35
Speaker 2: ordinary kid, you're powerless. And let me tell you a
17:38
Speaker 2: story that really illustrates this. At the press conference we
17:41
Speaker 2: did this week, we had victims and we had the
17:47
Speaker 2: moms of victims who have been targeted by this who
17:49
Speaker 2: came and joined us. And one of the victims was
17:53
Speaker 2: this fourteen year old girl. And I mentioned that her
17:56
Speaker 2: mom initially reached out to my office and she's a Texan.
18:00
Speaker 2: When I sat down with the mom last week, she
18:04
Speaker 2: expressed to me frustration. Last week she said, the images
18:09
Speaker 2: are still up. Snapchat has left them up, and she said,
18:13
Speaker 2: I've called repeatedly, I've emailed. I've tried to say, take
18:17
Speaker 2: down these false images of my daughter. They're horrific, they're wrong,
18:21
Speaker 2: and Snapchat basically said, go jump in a lake. She
18:24
Speaker 2: got to run around, she couldn't talk to a human being.
18:26
Speaker 2: She got referred over and over and over, and they're
18:28
Speaker 2: still up. And I'm sitting there in my office and
18:30
Speaker 2: I turned to my team and I said, that is garbage.
18:33
Speaker 2: And I told my team, I said, I want us
18:35
Speaker 2: to get on the phone with Snapchat today. And I
18:38
Speaker 2: told my team, if need be, put me on the
18:41
Speaker 2: phone with the CEO of Snapchat, and I told the
18:43
Speaker 2: mom we are going to get this taken down within
18:46
Speaker 2: twenty four hours. They took the images down now.
18:49
Speaker 1: But it took and this is the scary part. It
18:51
Speaker 1: took someone getting a hold of you, yes, and then
18:58
Speaker 1: having a United States from Texas to then call and
19:03
Speaker 1: basically say I want to talk to the CEO to
19:06
Speaker 1: get them to respond. The reality is the majority of
19:10
Speaker 1: Americans are not going to be able to pull that off.
19:12
Speaker 2: And that's exactly important, and it shows its effortless. They
19:16
Speaker 2: could do it instantaneously. They know how to pull it
19:19
Speaker 2: down that they're just they're so unaccountable. There's such a
19:23
Speaker 2: hubris and arrogance that they don't feel the need to respond.
19:27
Speaker 2: So if you're a global superstar, you can get it
19:31
Speaker 2: taken down. If you're able to get a member of
19:34
Speaker 2: Congress to intervene on your behalf, maybe you can get
19:37
Speaker 2: it taken down. But if you're just an ordinary teenager
19:40
Speaker 2: in Texas who wakes up one day to the friggin'
19:43
Speaker 2: nightmare of walking into eighth grade and every kid there
19:47
Speaker 2: is looking at an image on their phone that appears
19:50
Speaker 2: to be you doing explicit sexual activity, that is an
19:55
Speaker 2: absolute nightmare. And right now, big tech acts within pure
20:00
Speaker 2: unity this legislation. I think we're going to get this
20:02
Speaker 2: legislation passed. It needs to be passed because you should
20:05
Speaker 2: have a right to say, take this damn thing down,
20:08
Speaker 2: and take it down now.
20:10
Speaker 1: So let's talk about what the big tech world is
20:12
Speaker 1: going to respond with. And we've already seen this play.
20:15
Speaker 1: They've said, well, look, this is a state issue. The
20:18
Speaker 1: states should deal with this, and there's some states that
20:20
Speaker 1: have there's i think over twenty states that have dealt
20:23
Speaker 1: with this. But you guys are doing it differently from
20:27
Speaker 1: a federal perspective, and that is where there's going to
20:30
Speaker 1: be real teeth in the repercussions for those that don't
20:34
Speaker 1: abide by this federal law that you guys.
20:36
Speaker 2: Are working to pass. Correct, Correct, and listen. We've talked
20:41
Speaker 2: before about that. That's one of the benefits of my
20:44
Speaker 2: role as the ranking member on the Senate Committee of Commerce, Science,
20:48
Speaker 2: and Transportation. The Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over about forty
20:52
Speaker 2: percent of the US economy, and it is as the
20:57
Speaker 2: ranking members the senior Republican, I may to drive legislation
21:01
Speaker 2: like this, as you know. You know, the FA Reauthorization
21:04
Speaker 2: Bill that was just signed a law a few weeks
21:06
Speaker 2: ago was the one hundredth piece of legislation that I've
21:09
Speaker 2: authored and passed into law. And from the Commerce Committee,
21:12
Speaker 2: we have jurisdiction over big tech and so few things
21:16
Speaker 2: focused the mind of an industry more than the government
21:24
Speaker 2: with jurisdiction over that industry. And so states are acting
21:28
Speaker 2: and I'm glad in the state of Texas has acted,
21:30
Speaker 2: and that's important. But what we're not seeing is the
21:33
Speaker 2: mechanism to require that the content being taken down and
21:37
Speaker 2: actually we modeled it after existing federal legislation. When you're
21:42
Speaker 2: dealing with a violation of trademarks or copyrights that you
21:46
Speaker 2: have a right, you know, if you are Jimmy Hendrix.
21:49
Speaker 2: And by the way, if you're Jimmy Hendrix, you're dead.
21:51
Speaker 2: So I hope you're not Jimmy Hendrix. But if you're
21:53
Speaker 2: Jimmy Hendrix or the estate of Jimmy Hendrix and someone
21:55
Speaker 2: puts your content online, you have a right to say,
21:58
Speaker 2: go take it down, because that's my content and I
22:02
Speaker 2: own it. And so that's an existing legal mechanism in
22:06
Speaker 2: the world of intellectual property, and we borrowed that model
22:10
Speaker 2: for taking down non consensual intimate images. Now, I'll say
22:15
Speaker 2: earlier or earlier this week, I was talking with an
22:19
Speaker 2: editorial board of a major paper in Texas and they
22:23
Speaker 2: were asking I think Devil's Advocate questions. But one of
22:25
Speaker 2: the things they said is they said, well, what about
22:28
Speaker 2: the First Amendment. Isn't there a First Amendment right to
22:30
Speaker 2: do this? And I said, no, no, there's not. And
22:34
Speaker 2: I said a couple of things. I said, Number One,
22:36
Speaker 2: from the very beginning of the First Amendment, it has
22:39
Speaker 2: never covered defamation. It's never covered libel or slander. And
22:43
Speaker 2: so when you have false content that depicts someone in
22:47
Speaker 2: a way that is defamatory, and intimate and sexual images
22:51
Speaker 2: that are not you are by definition defamatory. That has
22:56
Speaker 2: always been understood from from the very first days the
22:59
Speaker 2: First Adment was adopted as not being within the protection
23:03
Speaker 2: of the First Amendment. But secondly, the First Amendment free
23:07
Speaker 2: speech protections have never covered the intentional infliction of emotional distress.
23:11
Speaker 2: And so so if you engage and this is this
23:14
Speaker 2: is connected to uh, connected to defamation. But but the
23:19
Speaker 2: First Amendment does does not empower you to harass and
23:23
Speaker 2: and and and exploit and abuse other people. And you
23:26
Speaker 2: can be sued and liable for doing so. And it's
23:29
Speaker 2: no defense to say, well, gosh, under the First Amendment,
23:31
Speaker 2: I can say anything I want. That's not how how
23:35
Speaker 2: our legal system works. And and and it's wise I said,
23:38
Speaker 2: I think we are going to get this done. I
23:42
Speaker 2: think we are likely to to get this legislation passed.
23:45
Speaker 2: And when we do, it is going to be a
23:48
Speaker 2: major protection for for for kids, UH and and and
23:53
Speaker 2: and for Americans across the country, in Texas and across
23:57
Speaker 2: the country.
23:58
Speaker 1: And that brings me, and that brings me this questues
24:00
Speaker 1: and there are a lot of people, especially parents, grandparents,
24:04
Speaker 1: are going to be listening and this is something they say, Hey,
24:07
Speaker 1: this isn't Republican Democrat. And this is why I think
24:09
Speaker 1: you guys are working so together with you and am
24:11
Speaker 1: Kobachar on the others. You mentioned this is just an
24:14
Speaker 1: issue of right and wrong. So what do they need
24:17
Speaker 1: to do to make sure that their voice is heard,
24:19
Speaker 1: especially if they're in favor of this.
24:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, speak out and make clear that this is
24:24
Speaker 2: the right thing to do. Look, you and I are
24:26
Speaker 2: both parents, if you could imagine the frustration and so
24:30
Speaker 2: many parents listen dealing with big tech generally, and as
24:33
Speaker 2: you know, this has been a passion of mine for
24:35
Speaker 2: a long time. I've authored and supported multiple bills designed
24:40
Speaker 2: to protect kids online. So a different bill that I
24:43
Speaker 2: have is a bill called Cosma, where I've joined with
24:46
Speaker 2: with Brian Shotts, who's a Democrat from Hawaii, and Cosma
24:53
Speaker 2: would prohibit children under thirteen from being on social media
24:58
Speaker 2: at all, so it would ban that across the board,
25:01
Speaker 2: and then children under seventeen. It would prohibit big tech
25:05
Speaker 2: from engaging in algorithmic boosting, which is the process that
25:08
Speaker 2: they push content at teenagers. And as you know, big
25:13
Speaker 2: tech in the pursuit of the dollar, pushes all sorts
25:17
Speaker 2: of horrible content at our kids. They push substance abuse
25:21
Speaker 2: and alcohol abuse, They push self harm, they push suicidal
25:26
Speaker 2: ideation that they push body image, particularly for young girls,
25:31
Speaker 2: all sorts of body image issues. We're seeing dramatically increasing
25:36
Speaker 2: instances of depression, of anxiety. You know, the Surgeon General
25:40
Speaker 2: under Joe Biden just wrote an op ed in the
25:42
Speaker 2: New York Times decrying the risk to mental health from
25:46
Speaker 2: social media of young people. The solution, or at least
25:50
Speaker 2: part of the solution, I think, is the legislation I
25:52
Speaker 2: have with Brian Shotts. It also includes another bill that
25:57
Speaker 2: I've authored with John Fetterman, obviously other Democrat, called the
26:01
Speaker 2: Eyes on the Board Bill, which says that any school
26:05
Speaker 2: that receives federal funds, which is pretty much all of them,
26:09
Speaker 2: is required to ban social media from their Wi Fi
26:14
Speaker 2: on campus because kids on campus ought to be paying
26:18
Speaker 2: attention to school and not on snapchat, Chat or Instagram
26:21
Speaker 2: or something else. And what I will say on all
26:24
Speaker 2: of these ben is, I literally don't know a parent
26:31
Speaker 2: who is not scared, who is not frustrated about how
26:35
Speaker 2: do you protect your kids online?
26:39
Speaker 1: It's shocking now it's scary. It's a wild West, and
26:42
Speaker 1: there seems to be no real protections for children.
26:46
Speaker 2: And look, when you and I were kids, we didn't
26:49
Speaker 2: deal with this. Now that this was not a world.
26:53
Speaker 2: You know, when I was a teenager, my parents would
26:56
Speaker 2: would have me. I'd like, you know, lay on the
26:58
Speaker 2: floor on like the landline phone talking to my girlfriend
27:02
Speaker 2: to one in the morning, and that was like as
27:06
Speaker 2: much as you dealt with You now have these phones
27:10
Speaker 2: that are these portals to just about everything evil in
27:13
Speaker 2: the world, sexual predators, to bullies, to people just targeting
27:17
Speaker 2: our kids. And you know what's interesting, Ben So in
27:22
Speaker 2: the Senate, as you know, look, there are a lot
27:24
Speaker 2: of people who are really damn old. I mean a
27:27
Speaker 2: lot of my colleagues are their seventies or eighties or
27:30
Speaker 2: even nineties, and I got to admit that my colleagues
27:33
Speaker 2: that are of that generation are kind of a little
27:37
Speaker 2: bit befuddled by this issue. They look at it and frankly,
27:41
Speaker 2: you know, their kids weren't dealing with it when their
27:44
Speaker 2: kids were children, and their grandkids are now, but they're
27:47
Speaker 2: often less connected to it than they would be. And
27:51
Speaker 2: what's interesting is the people that I'm joining with the
27:53
Speaker 2: senators that are teaming up with me on this, both
27:55
Speaker 2: Democrats and Republicans. Almost all of them are either in
27:59
Speaker 2: their forties and fifties. They're younger senators, and almost all
28:03
Speaker 2: of us have kids that are either teenagers or adolescents.
28:08
Speaker 2: And almost to a person, if you're a parent and
28:10
Speaker 2: you've got kids who are younger, so you're just starting
28:12
Speaker 2: to face this, but I'm sure you're worried about it now,
28:15
Speaker 2: and I promise you in five or ten years, you're
28:18
Speaker 2: going to be terrified about it because every parent I
28:20
Speaker 2: know is makes you.
28:21
Speaker 1: Share this podcast with your family and your friends. Please
28:24
Speaker 1: write the five sorry of you. It helps us reach
28:26
Speaker 1: new people, and I'll see you back here tomorrow