Online harms: a parent’s fight for social media regulation

Kristin Bride became a social media reform advocate following the tragic loss of her 16-year-old son Carson. He took his own life four years ago after being cyberbullied on Yolo, a former Snapchat app that allowed users to send anonymous messages. This unimaginable grief led Kristin to pursue a legal battle for justice for her son and to protect other kids online.
The first obstacle she encountered to hold social media companies responsible for creating such unsafe products was Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act 1996, the legislation that gives social media companies immunity from liability in the U.S.
“It was devastating to me. I already felt so helpless, so incredibly sad. And to learn that there was nothing I could do, absolutely nothing… I knew that I needed to fight this.”
Kristin’s legal complaint was dismissed in August 2023 based on Section 230. She has since appealed and found a crack in Section 230, but her lawsuit is still ongoing.
Kristin spoke to CCDH’s CEO Imran Ahmed about her story, the importance of reforming legislation in the U.S., and the growing movement of parents and advocates fighting for online safety for kids and teens.
“There is a movement happening and I don’t think that any legislation that doesn’t pass is going to change that. We need everyone fighting Big Tech – organizations like yourselves and individuals. None of us can do it alone. We need to do it together and we need to keep these topics in the forefront of everyone’s minds every single day. We cannot lighten up.”
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Read the full transcript of the interview with Kristin Bride:
Imran
Hi everyone, my name is Imran Ahmed, I’m CEO and founder of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. I’m really delighted to have with me Kristen Bride, who is a campaigner I’ve come to know over the recent years who’s done incredible work after the tragic loss of her son Carson to bullying and online harms.
Kristen, it’s always a pleasure to be with you. Your dedication to social media reform is something that we all admire, and we thank you for joining this conversation today. Personally speaking, I am in awe of your courage in raising awareness about online harms following the tragic loss of your son Carson four years ago.
Can you tell us a little bit about how you took those first steps after you lost Carson, once you realized that Snapchat and Yolo were partly responsible for that unimaginable tragedy in your life?
Kristin
Well, first of all, Imran, thank you so much for having me and for that kind introduction. I think probably the best way to answer this question is maybe step back a little bit for viewers who may not be aware of the full story, and so I can really set the stage.
We were conservative parents with technology. We waited until Carson was through middle school to give him his first iPhone, a very old version with no apps on it, and we had hoped that it would stay that way.
But unfortunately, when he got to high school, he begged for Snapchat because that was the way all the kids were connecting. So I knew he had Snapchat. What I did not know at the time of his death was that Snapchat had allowed anonymous apps like the one used to cyber bully Carson, Yolo, on to their back end.
And anonymous apps allow abusers to make comments to someone publicly and humiliate them while protecting their privacy, making them anonymous. But their target is not anonymous. And when we look at the history of anonymous apps when marketed to teens, they always lead to cyberbullying and usually suicide. They shut down and then a new one comes to market, unfortunately.
So when Carson died, on that very horrific day when we were trying to figure out why he did this, we started to hear from the school community that he had been bullied on Yolo. And I had no idea what that was. And so we had access to his phone. And so I started researching and found that Yolo actually had policies stating that they would monitor for cyber bullying, reveal the identities of those who do so, and ban them from the app.
And so I reached out to Yolo through their email on 4 separate occasions, letting them know what happened to my son and simply asking them to follow their own policies and reveal the names of the cyber bullies and ban them.
I was ignored. And that was really kind of the first step for me. I knew that I could not live with this. And so I reached out to a Portland attorney, and I will never forget that sad rainy day where I met with him and he gave me my first education in Section 230, something that I had no idea existed. And he told me there is absolutely nothing you can do to make this company respond to you about their own policies because they have legal immunity because of this 30-year-old law.
It was devastating to me. I already felt so helpless, so incredibly sad. And to learn that there was nothing I could do, absolutely nothing. And that I live in a country where this has happened, is happening. And I realized it was wrong on so many levels. And I knew that I needed to fight this.
And so I realized that the way to do that is to become very public about Carson’s story and the challenges that I was up against. And fortunately, through that advocacy, I was able to find an attorney in New York City, Juyoun Han, from Eisenberg and Baum, and she has been with me and Carson on this fight for the last almost five years now.
Imran
That is an incredible loss. And what you’ve done since then has been, you know, I think people will find it difficult to imagine having the courage, the action, the sort of the just the sheer ability to get yourself up every day and go and fight.
But how would you describe the legal situation that we’re in now? I mean, to what extent is legislation on the side of social media companies in the United States today?
Kristin
I think anyone who enters our justice system is probably not prepared for what a slow roll it is. And that especially when you lose a child and you want accountability and you want justice for that child, it’s something that you’re just not prepared for.
And then add on Section 230 immunity. So you have this huge hurdle that you have to jump through to even get to discovery. And so if I can kind of give you a timeline on what this has been like for me. We filed our first lawsuit against Yolo in May 2021, nearly a year after Carson died. That was the anonymous app that was primarily used to cyberbully my son.
Our complaint was based on two things: product liability, the fact that this is a defective design when marketed to teens; and their product misrepresentation, that they had policies in place stating that they would monitor for cyberbullying, reveal the identities and ban them from the app.
And I do want to make a note here that the last search on Carson’s phone was for hacks to find out who was doing this to him. And to this day, Yolo has either been unwilling or unable to do this for us. Follow their own policies.
And so our complaint was dismissed in August 2023 in the Central District Court of California based on Section 230. It was heartbreaking. It brought me back to that day of learning that there’s just nothing you can do in this country.
And you know, I, it was really frustrating to me because our case has never been about what was said to Carson. That is free speech and that should be protected under Section 230. It was a defective product design and product misrepresentation. So we appealed in the 9th Circuit Court and we won our appeal for product misrepresentation, not for product liability.
And so this was great news in that we were able to create a crack in Section 230 so that any other families that come after us that are suing these companies for their own product misrepresentation, they then can go to discovery.
And just kind of wrap this up with timing. Our product misrepresentation trial is scheduled for March 2026, nearly six years after we lost Carson. So that can hopefully give viewers an idea of what a long haul it is. And you know, of course, every time there’s news, it brings you back to the initial grief. It’s hard. It’s really, really hard.
Imran
I mean, leaving aside the time that the American justice system takes to work, you know, it does feel like there’s an overwhelming array of obstacles, legal obstacles that have been actively put into place by Congress that make it really difficult to force these platforms to be transparent, to be able to hold them accountable, ask them tough questions and get them to give us the truth.
And also why they’ve caused harm, to hold them economically responsible. I mean, you know, if someone harms you, they should have to pay. And that’s a fundamental aspect of American law that for some reason doesn’t apply to social media companies.
So why do you think it’s critical to reform the legislation that deals with social media companies, in particular Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act 1996? As you observe, which absolves platforms from responsibility for what’s posted.
Kristin
Well, 30 years ago when that law was written, the Internet was a very different place than it is today. And I truly believe Big Tech has been able to design these addictive and dangerous products because they have complete legal immunity, unlike any other industry in America.
And these products are designed to addict and keep kids and adults online longer through creating drama, like the anonymous apps that were used to cyber bully Carson, and by sending kids shocking information that they’re not even looking up. Like how to survive on 500 calories a day, or pro suicide content.
So in the absence of federal legislation to have industry safeguards on the forefront of designing these products – we suffered a tragic loss last month with the Kids Online Safety Act not passing. The only thing we have is to sue these companies and hope that that will make them think twice about marketing a dangerous product to billions of children.
And, you know, I really think that, you know, we’ve termed social media as the Wild West out there. But with Mark Zuckerberg’s policy change this week, basically saying there’s going to be a lot more harmful and misinformation out there. Then you add that with AI and that fast development that is completely unregulated in this country as well. I don’t think it’s going to be the Wild West anymore. I think it’s going to be a dumpster fire.
And I think we are going to see so many people harmed, especially children.
Imran
I mean, you know, to me, watching American politics. And I live in America. I’ve lived here for five years. I married an American. My children are American. And I’m a, you know, a permanent resident. But I don’t really like consuming American politics because quite often they’re talking about things which just seem to me to be utterly bonkers.
And on something like this, which effects every parent in America, every parent knows that either they’re coming to or they’ve had to go through that moment of negotiating with their kids whether or not they can have platforms and devices which we know can really harm them. Lawmakers, these lawmakers who will argue about everything, for some reason are unwilling to have our backs on this one issue. And it is very dispiriting.
But you are part of a growing movement of parents and other advocates fighting to hold social media companies accountable. Do you think parents are becoming more aware of online harms to their kids, or is there more work to do?
Kristin
I think the answer to that question is both. I do think that we have made so much progress in education on online harms. When this happened to me four years ago, I felt completely alone and I don’t feel alone anymore. And I think a lot of that I want to attribute to my fellow parent survivors who have had the courage to talk about the worst day of their life over and over again in an effort to create legislation or to educate parents so that they don’t have to have their children die from these preventable harms like we have.
But I also run into parents that really have no idea about the types of harms out there. And they talk about their kids, you know, safe at home playing online video games. But when I asked what game are they playing or who are they playing with, they have no idea. I still think that there is a false sense of security, that our kids are safe at home. And we as a family have learned in the worst way possible that that is not true.
Imran
That image of your kids being next to you on the sofa on a device, but you don’t know who they’re with. You don’t know who’s telling them what and why is really terrifying to a lot of parents. I think there was that old PSA, “It’s 10:00 PM. Do you know where your kids are? Well, we know where our kids are now. We don’t know who they’re with. We don’t know what they’re being told.”
Kristin, as you know, because I’ve had the privilege of getting to know you personally, I’m a Dad myself. And you know, my wife and I, we struggle with the idea of our children one day using social media. So what advice would you give to parents like me who want to keep their kids safe online?
Kristin
Well, I know your child is young and you can start now. Really monitor and create boundaries around you using screen time. You can model this at an early age. If you’re on your phone and your baby sees this as soon as they walk, that’s what they’re going to want to grab. And so really being present with your child and trying to keep the screens out of the room, I think will really help.
And as your child gets older, delay, delay, delay. You know, I have not heard one parent say, I wish I had given my child a phone earlier. It’s just the opposite.
And you need your child to develop, to create real relationships with real people, real friendships and real interests. And then when they get, if they have that as a foundation, they’re secure as a person and who they are, the device becomes what it was supposed to be. A way to connect, to a range activities, but not your life and not who you are, and not the number of likes and friends and all of that.
And you know, I think the good news, Imran, is that your generation of parents are learning from the digital disasters of ours and that you will have so much more support. There are so many more for parents that are really walking the hard road and keeping the phones out of their kids hands until later.
And then also the phone free school movement, that bell to bell, no phones. That also gives kids that period of time to develop themselves as human beings and making those connections. And that will only help you as parents and it will help the children. So I think you’re coming into parenting at a much better time. Unfortunately, our kids were the lab rats and we’ve paid just a horrendous price.
Imran
Yeah. You know, CCDH, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the organization I found and run, is and always will be on the side of parents and active combatants in this struggle, this fight.
How would you like to see CCDH and other organizations continue to help in this crucial fight ahead?
Kristin
Well, doing like what you’re doing right now, elevating Carson’s story and others, educating people about Section 230 and the problems associated with it.
There is a movement happening and I don’t think that any legislation that doesn’t pass is going to change that. We need everyone fighting Big Tech – organizations like yourselves and individuals. None of us can do it alone. We need to do it together and we need to keep these topics in the forefront of everyone’s minds every single day. We cannot lighten up.”
Imran
Yeah. I mean, look, we are in there in the fight with you. And we will be until we have social media platforms that do recognize that they have a responsibility to the users, to society. There are so many ways in which they’re causing harm. But the kids, yeah, that is the thing that I think really, really motivates so many millions, tens of millions of American parents around the country. And I think everyone wants, you know, change.
Kristin, again, it’s always a pleasure. You are inspiring. And I look forward to the day, I think we all do, when we will be able to say that we’ve won this fight and protected everyone’s kids. But not yet. It’s time to get back to work. So thank you, and we’ll see you soon.
Kristin
Thank you for having me.