Kids Can’t Wait: Urge your Representatives to Cosponsor the Kids Online Safety Act!

The Kids Online Safety Act has been reintroduced in the Senate by Senators Blackburn (R-TN) and Blumenthal (D-CT) with the support of Leaders Thune (R-SD) and Schumer (D-NY). This important legislation establishes a duty of care for Big Tech platforms, requiring social media platforms to prevent harms to children! After coming incredibly close to passage last congress, it is imperative and urgent that Congress pass the Kids Online Safety Act (S. 1748).

Fatalities and serious harm to minors continue as a result of specific practices and features developed for social media platforms. Despite facilitating unprecedented fatalities and serious harms to minors, tech platforms refuse to take responsibility for the harms the platforms they create have caused to children, even though they result from design features they create.  To combat any attempt to hold them accountable, they have created confusion and spread misinformation around the bill – despite the fact that it is widely considered the most comprehensive child protection legislation moving through Congress today and passed the Senate 91-3 last session!

America’s children cannot wait one more day, let alone one more legislative session, for the important protections offered by KOSA. Congress must take action – Big Tech has proved that it is incapable of policing itself. 

Your Senators must hear from you! Please ask them to co-sponsor the Kids Online Safety Act this session, and ask them to urge Senate Leadership to bring this important bill up for a vote.

Sign On Here 

Smarter Start Toolkit

Developed in partnership with UScellular, the Smarter Start Toolkit guides parents on how to foster their child’s relationship with tech. This compelling, complementary kit provides education and activities to engage with your child on developing healthy digital habits as they embark on their first-phone journey.

To access this resource as a free digital download, register now.

Authorities in California believe 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard was with her mother as recently as Oct. 7 — a week before she was reported missing. This comes after investigators previously said the “at-risk” girl hadn’t been seen in a year, PEOPLE previously reported.

The investigation into Melodee’s disappearance began Tuesday, Oct. 14 after a local school reported the child’s “prolonged absence,” the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement last week. When police arrived at her Lompoc, Calif. residence, they only found her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, who provided “no clear explanation” about the child’s whereabouts, per the statement. Now, as the investigation enters its second week, Ashlee is refusing to cooperate with authorities, the sheriff’s office said in an updated statement on Monday, Oct. 20.

Per the update, investigators allege they uncovered evidence that indicates Melodee was with her mother as recently as Oct. 7, and that the pair were in a rented vehicle they believe traveled as far as Nebraska. The sheriff’s office had previously said the last verified contact with Melodee took place a year ago, and the most recent photo of the child was taken two years ago, PEOPLE previously reported. The vehicle is no longer believed to be in Ashlee’s possession.

The FBI has now joined the investigation, according to KSBY. Melodee was reported missing by the Lompoc Unified School District when she failed to pick up assignments following her August enrollment in an independent learning program at the school, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing a statement from the school. The girl had been homeschooled for several years, the sheriff’s office told the outlet. Melodee’s extended family has expressed concerns about her wellbeing, claiming Ashlee has a long history of mental illness and has cut off the family for years, per the Times. “Ashlee is mentally unstable and my mom tried to get custody or at least grandparent rights to visit Melodee because [Ashlee] wasn’t letting our side of the family see her,” Vicky Shade, Melodee’s aunt, told the outlet. Shade’s brother, Rubiell Meza, is Melodee’s father; he died in a motorcycle accident shortly after the child was born, Shade said.

Read More Here.

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Please watch and find out what you can do to protect your children and fight BIG TECH.

 BREAKING: POLICE RAID CHINESE-RUN HUMAN TRAFFICKING RINGS The Austin Police Department raided illicit “spas” secretly run by Chinese crime networks. There were no cucumber facials, just a whole lot of illegal stuff. The sting, called “Operation Coast to Coast,” pulled in more than 150 law enforcement agencies from places like Texas, California, and NY. It wasn’t your average police day; officers found over 60 victims of human trafficking and arrested more than 30 people. Some of the victims were just teenagers, including a 14-year-old girl who was forced to “work” for over 10 men a day. Officials say all the cash and victims were being funneled straight back to China. They’re calling it the fastest-growing form of trafficking in the U.S. So, if your “spa” has bars on the windows and a kitchen behind the massage table, it’s probably not a spa.

Watch Here.

After a mother’s message seeking “justice” gained national attention, authorities in Cleveland have announced that two children, ages 9 and 10, are facing charges in connection with allegedly assaulting, raping and scalping her 5-year-old daughter earlier this month.

The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office announced charges on Wednesday against the two juvenile suspects, who prosecutors described as “a 10-year-old female and a 9-year-old male.”

Officials said the two children have both been charged with attempted murder, four counts of rape, two counts of felonious assault, one count of kidnapping and another count of strangulation.

The charges stem from a Sept. 13 incident that recently went viral and gained national media attention after the 5-year-old girl’s mother took to social media to share what allegedly happened to her daughter.

Read more here.