Why Congress Must Pass the Kids Online Safety Act

0:00 Speaker 1 Save our children with us today is Lynn Shaw Lyn’swarriors dot org and she is she has a mission in life is to save more children in our country. And well, Lynn, what’s up today?

0:17 Speaker 2 Good morning, John? Our mission is also waking up America. Look, big tech is spending millions lobby in Washington. You and I talk about this all the time, but now I have some hard figures. I mean, who’s speaking up for America’s children? Coming up Wednesday, August fit may be the most critical and consequential day on Capitol Hill for child

0:38 safety legislation. We have our Senator Ted Cruz, Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, along with ranking Member Maria Cantwell. They have the opportunity, John, to restore our bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act sponsored by Senator Mishah Blackburn and Senator Richard Blumenthal. The House destroyed, it went over there, But now Senator Cruz has this opportunity when they vote on

1:01 this to restore the original version with duty of care. Because the House of gut it our bill. I have to tell you, John, parents all over America, parents we work with, they are waiting for this. But here’s the good news. Let me put something down for you. A recent new report came out which is such ammunition for

1:20 us at the warriors. And also you were on Capitol Hill. It’s a non partisan organization called Issue One. We work with them, colleagues of ours, and they found that major technology, social media and these artificial intelligence companies, along with their trade associations, spent more than forty eight point eight million dollars again, forty one point eight million dollars lobbying. And

1:45 I always speak this, I’m slowing down on purpose about this. In just six months, John, on Capitol Hill with their lobbyists, Okay, the first six months of twenty twenty six, that equals more than two hundred and thirty thousand dollars every single day on Capitol Hill. So as we’re talking about all this child safety legislation, AI regulation and the future for

2:06 our kids, you know, many Americans are asking a simple question. Who has the louder voice in DC right now? Is it big tech or American families? And John, I mean when I tell you, tech understands policy matters, and they’re fighting so hard because right now they’re unregulated. I mean, you’re a businessman. Did you ever hear of a company

2:27 or a business being unregulated. John free reigned.

2:31 Speaker 1 It used to be baseball in football in your days.

2:35 Speaker 2 All right, but that’s gone. Now we’re dealing with this artificial intelligence is AI that’s all over the place. So families don’t have millions of dollars to spend on lobbyists. We have the warriors don’t have millions of dollars. Along with a lot of our colleagues. Parents have children to protect.

2:50 That’s why we exist. That land’s warriors. So we can, you know, kind of leave the pack and ensure try to help the voices the kids drowned out by this corporate influence set is so powerful right now on Capitol John, And I mean, what happened to America? First, So they’ve got hundreds of lobbyists, big tech and you know, I

3:09 want to say a lot of people say to me like, you know, why should I even care? That’s the other half half half the country is like this is horrible. The other half is like, I can’t do a thing about it. Why should I care? Because many of these big tech companies operating these platforms that millions of kids

3:24 are using every single day, you know, they need to be involved at the Americans, the parents and aigulation. I want to keep going about ai ai AI because we did nothing about this social media John over the past thirty years since it was born, and now we know the harm. So now we have a chance that we

3:42 can have a voice in America and speak to our odd officials. And you know what, it makes it so important for this upcoming Senate Kids Online Safety Act on August. We have to get this passed. We have to begin holding big tech all. We’re asking John duty of care.

3:59 They put out a reason product that they’ve done everything reasonably. It doesn’t sound so hard to me to have some child safety on their end, because their playbook is always blaming the parents. The parents don’t watch their kids, the parents don’t do enough. Yes, parents are their first line of defense, but we also need them to put out

4:16 a safety product. I always tell you we have we have safety mission for food and mattresses and bicycle helmets and seatbelts, but nothing for opening up the world to all of our kids. So it is very important on all this fit that our Kids Online Safety X Senate Version seventeen forty eight by the great Senator Marshall Blackburn,

4:34 that we get this passed. And you know, what Here’s what people say to me all week. The last you know, they’re saying, Washington based on lobbyists. This is how it works. Lobbying, I think we can agree, is part, a lawful, part of our democratic promise. But the concern many parents raised is whether just regular Americans John have a meaningful opportunity

4:55 to be heard alongside these corporate, well funded giants. And we believe lawmakers need from the American public. They put them in office, they voted for them. They need to hear from educators, survivors of these crimes, on child safety, experts, the warriors when they consider any of this legislation. So everybody needs to get involved. Because here’s the bottom line.

5:19 Everything we talk about behind all of this, John is a statistic, it’s a child, it’s a family forever changed. So we believe that the warriors, every child, every family, they deserve the same thoughtful considerations online that we expect in the physical world. So Congress has got to step up.

5:37 The fifth is the date, and they’ve got to serve the American public. And right now I want to say, innovation and child safety need to go together. We are pro innovation, pro technology, and you know what, these companies connect to billions of people and have extraordinary talent and successes, but they’re also harming. So you know what we need

5:56 to talk about all this, and parents a reminder you remain in the first line of defense and know what your kids are using. Delay the social media and apps as much you can and the smartphones. Delay is the way it starts with communication. Use parental controls. You know what, Families remain essential partners who will want more partnerships. John

6:15 on Capitol Hill with families and Americans to these big tech companies.

6:19 Speaker 1 Well, Lynn, you’re one hundred percent right now. WABC and John Katsimatidis and the Katsmatidis family supports you. And I’m glad Marsha Blackburn, who’s going to be the next governor in Tennessee, supports you. And I hope I will take a New York Post ad and just before the vote and maybe Sunday today and and let everybody know. And

6:51 God bless you for saving our kids. And God bless thank.

6:55 Speaker 2 You, John, and God bless you and WABC because you are the biggest warrior. No, thank you for helping us