ICYMI: Survivor Parents Slam Meta and YouTube Following Landmark Verdict in Social Media Addiction Trials

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, The Tech Oversight Project amplified a press conference from survivor parents following the landmark verdict in the first social media addiction holding Big Tech accountable for its faulty and dangerous product designs. Below are key quotes from the press conference. 

Julianna Arnold of California:
Remarks

I think we're all out of words to express what we feel, and being in that courtroom and hearing those answers from the jury. It's really validated, but a complete validation of what we've been screaming on the top of roofs about for years. This was a conscious decision that they made. It was not an accident, and parents are not to blame.

They knew the harm. They knew the damage. They assessed the risk, and they moved forward anyway. And from my opinion, that's incorrigible. This is not about some business decision. There's a right thing to do and a wrong thing to do, and they're on the wrong side.

So for them, for the biggest tech executives, I want to say something:  Stop blaming the parents. It's on you.

For parents, we now know that they were manipulating our children for profits while we were watching and trying to keep our families safe. They are the predators. No more looking away.

We know this is a long game. We're headed to DC with the evidence we have in hand and this verdict, and we're demanding safety protections and legislation to keep kids safe online…We have a message for them. We don't want any more hearings. We don't want any more loopholes in these bills. We don't want any more of them shielding big tech. Enough is enough.

We want them to do their jobs and keep American families safe, and I think what we found right now is Big Tech is predator number one right now….We are not giving up till we get to the finish line.

Q&A

On Congressional action: 

There are bills on the table in the House right now. The Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act. We worked for years to get that passed in the Senate in 2024 – 91 to 3. That's what we're looking for. That version, not the House version, but the Senate version.

On the first social media-related death over 16 years ago: 

The first should have been the last. 

Lori Schott of Colorado:
Remarks

We have fought on Capitol Hill to get reforms through. Nobody heard us. Capitol Hill, hear us now…Invite us parents to Capitol Hill…Let's make this world a better place. But parents, we need you to join in with us because it stops today. Big Tech, your gig is over. 

Victoria Hinks of California: 
Q&A

On need for AI chatbot legislation: 

And if you know if social media was the gateway drug, AI is like the crack in heroin. And it moves fast, and tech moves very fast, and government does not. The tech companies are knowingly and intentionally preying upon the fragile psyche of teenage girls in particular, and they know this.