SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Nearly a decade after her 16-year-old son died by suicide following cyberbullying, San Antonio mother Maurine Molak is urging Congress and technology companies to strengthen protections for children online as federal lawmakers advance legislation targeting social media risks.
Molak, who founded the David’s Legacy Foundation after her son’s death, supports the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee unanimously advanced earlier this month.
The bill would require online platforms to provide stronger privacy protections for minors by default, give parents additional tools to safeguard their children and require platforms to address specific risks to young users.
“There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that social media is a contributing factor to the mental health of our young people,” Molak said. “And so, especially vulnerable children are impacted negatively by social media’s design.”
Molak said children face online risks including cyberbullying and platform features that can encourage compulsive use. She wants lawmakers to address those design elements as part of broader online safety measures.
“If we can get to the core issues of that, those design features that are leading to compulsive use and our kids using them to the extreme, then that’s what Congress needs to do,” she said.
KOSA has faced opposition from critics who argue that the legislation could raise First Amendment concerns and give the government too much authority over determining what content could harm children.
Molak continues to lobby lawmakers and work with other parents through Parents for Safe Online Spaces, or ParentsSOS, to support stronger federal protections.
She said parents also should begin conversations about online safety early and help children understand how to respond when they encounter harmful content or behavior.
“It’s not a matter of when your child is going to experience some type of harm online,” Molak said. “They will. Every child will at some point in their life will see it or experience it themselves.”
David was a sophomore at Alamo Heights High School when he died. Molak said he encountered harmful situations online that he did not fully understand.
“We were just a normal family, and David grew up in the age of technology really rapidly changing,” she said.
Molak now wants other families to have the resources and support she believes children need to navigate online risks.
“We just really want parents to have these conversations with their children and let them know that no matter what situation they get in, there’s always help to get them out of those situations,” she said.
Molak said advocates hope KOSA will reach the Senate floor next month and that Congress will establish a federal standard for protecting children online.
