A mother of three whose lives have been severely affected by the careless effects of social media belittled the tech company’s billionaire CEO at an emotional Senate panel hearing on Wednesday.
Riley Basford and Grace McComas, both 15 years old, are typical “dumb, dumb” kids who have gone to church and started new jobs when things suddenly take a turn for the worse and take their own lives.
Mariam Fawzi was a high school athlete before being hospitalized with severe anorexia after watching pro-eating disorder content on TikTok and Facebook.
“This is not going to stop, and more kids are going to die and more kids are going to be hurt,” said Mariam’s mother, Neveen Radwan, who has made three trips to DC to lobby lawmakers for tougher action. .
Radwan and the mother of Riley and Grace, whose lives have been torn apart by online bullying and harassment, attended the Senate hearing on Wednesday, where executives were criticized for their failure to protect children on their platforms.
“Every time a group of parents leave, different parents join us because more children die,” Radwan said.
Parents have channeled their grief to push for legislation aimed at ending the abuse.
Christine McComan (centre) whose teenage daughter Grace killed herself in 2012 after a horrific campaign of cyber-bullying, joined other mothers in displaying pictures of their children at a Senate hearing on Wednesday on social media. The head of the social media company AP who attended the hearing received a standing ovation from parents in the audience, including an audible hiss when they entered the room. Getty Images
But the pace of progress on the issue — which has been described as a “crisis in America” by the panel’s Democratic chairman, Sen. Dick Durbin – very slow.
“The longer this takes, the worse it will be,” Radwan argued. “The number will continue to rise because this is an ongoing problem.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, TikTok CEO Shou Chew, X CEO Linda Yaccarino, Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel and Discord CEO Jason Citron were among the CEOs present at the hearing.
Neveen Radwan’s daughter, Mariam, suffered severe anorexia after watching pro-eating disorder content on Facebook and TikTok. Courtesy of Neveen Radwan
As the executives entered the packed Senate Judiciary Committee Chamber, gasps could be heard from the crowd, including many parents holding pictures of their children who either died or had their lives threatened, allegedly because of the lack of social security fences. media platforms.
Neveen’s daughter Mariam had just entered high school when the outbreak hit, which undermined the athlete’s burgeoning training regimen.
With limited gym options during the curfew, Neveen said Mariam started looking for exercise videos on social media to help keep her in shape until school sports resumed.
However, the teenager’s innocuous search for fitness content soon leads him down a treacherous path that almost takes his life.
Social media platforms use algorithms that adapt to a person’s interests, push videos and give them content that will get them hooked on the product.
Mariam has been “bombarded” by proposals for videos with disturbing premises such as “how to stay under 500 calories a day,” Neveen says.
“He was like entering a black hole of eating disorder content that he never asked for or sought,” says Neveen. “But it became kind of his obsession.”
Within a few months, Mariam started having heart problems. He spent more of the year in and out of hospitals, including being sent to a treatment center in Denver after suffering “multiple heart attacks” in 2021.
Rose Bronstein of Chicago wipes away tears as she holds a picture of her son, Nate, who died by suicide in 2022 after being cyberbullied. Getty Images
Although Mariam survived what Neveen calls a “horrific journey,” she will fight the urge to relapse for the rest of her life.
“I think what a lot of these companies don’t realize is that you don’t actually have to kill someone to affect them for the rest of their life,” Neveen said. “This type of mental illness has a trigger, and for him, that trigger is social media.”
Mary Rodee’s son, Riley, is a typical “goofy” teenage boy, who has a charm that makes the teachers love him “even though he’s so naughty at school.”
Mary Rodee’s son, Riley, took his own life in 2021 after falling victim to a sexual blackmail plot on Facebook. Courtesy of Mary Rodee
But Riley shot himself in the foot in 2021 after being targeted in a sexual blackmail scheme by an overseas Facebook catfish who posed as attractive girls and solicited him and some of his school friends with friend requests on the platform.
Mary said her late son was baited into exchanging sexually explicit images with the adult, who then immediately turned around and tried to blackmail the teenager.
He took his own life shortly after Mary dropped him off at her father’s house, leaving 11 devastated siblings and half-siblings, including his younger sister who found his body.
Parents have channeled their grief to push for legislation aimed at ending the abuse. Allison Bailey/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
“Four hours after I said goodbye to him, see you in a minute, in his cute little bra, talking about how next week he was so excited for spring break, so many plans with his friends, he shot himself because they were scared he is death,” he said.
The teenager recently got a job and was determined to save enough money to buy a top-up snowmobile on Facebook Marketplace, the platform’s answer to Craigslist.
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However, when Riley and Mary answered truthfully about her age when setting up an account, she was banned from using the marketplace, which limits users under the age of 18.
“It’s just the irony of the whole horrible situation,” he said of the platform’s security measures, which thwarted a teenager’s attempt to buy a snowmobile but didn’t prevent adult criminals from exchanging sexually explicit material with him.
Mary Rodee said that changes need to be made on social media platforms immediately. Courtesy of Mary Rodee’s son Mary Riley is survived by 11 siblings and half-siblings. Courtesy of Mary Rodee
Mary expressed concern that the public attention given to teenage victims would be short-lived and that the problem would only get worse without a serious and sustained campaign aimed at solving it.
“The American public has a very short attention span, and I just made it on the front page of this newspaper today,” he said. “This has to happen now.”
The tragedy of children having their lives destroyed by online bullying may have received more attention in recent years, but the phenomenon is nothing new.
Jaime Puerta, of Santa Clarita, Calif., holds a picture of her son Daniel Joseph Puerta-Johnson, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. AP The tragedy of children having their lives destroyed by online bullying may have gotten more attention in recent years. AP
Christine McComas’ daughter Grace, 15, killed herself on Easter Sunday in 2012 after a long campaign of cyber bullying.
She described her daughter as “born happy,” and said the teenager had been active in her community and church until a “drug-assisted sexual assault” when she was 14 changed her world.
After the attack, the teenager continued to be victimized by a vile cyberbullying campaign that claimed he had “grabbed” those responsible.
Christine McComas’ daughter Grace, 15, took her own life in 2012 after being cyber-bullied.
Christine said her daughter began receiving horrific social media messages such as “their fingers should be cut off one by one as they watch their family burn” and “I hope you see this and cry yourself to sleep, and then wake up and kill yourself.”
She said the family turned to the school, the police and eventually the courts – but received no help as they watched their daughter spin.
“He is in crisis. We watched him, he had anxiety, he had depression. He has difficulty eating and sleeping. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion,” said Christine.
Some of the messages addressed to Grace McComas on Twitter before she committed suicide.
“We got her mental health help, we surrounded her with as much love as we could, but she was scared. We lived on three acres and she wouldn’t go outside to walk to the mailbox.”
Less than a year after his death, the State of Maryland passed Grace’s Law, which criminalized the use of internet communications to harass or intimidate minors.
Despite the progress made in her home state, Christine says continued public pressure on elected officials and social media chiefs is the only path to lasting change at the national level.
“This will not stop, and more children will die and more children will be injured,” said Mariam’s mother, Neveen Radwan. AP/Pablo Martinez Monsvais
“As a parent who has lost my child for a long time at this point, I am very angry that nothing has been done so far. And every time they decide not to do it, if they hit it, or they don’t take action, I just know more kids are going to be hurt or killed,” he said.
“You can’t turn away from grieving parents who want change. We are all united not only in our grief but in our commitment that this should never happen to anyone else.”
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free, confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 24/7 at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
