U.S. Senator Katie Britt Discusses Protecting Children Online with Subject Matter Experts and Parents of Victims
WASHINGTON, D.C. —U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) yesterday joined the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, “Protecting Our Children Online Against the Evolving Offender,” which focused on the growing threat of sextortion and other forms of child exploitation online. Witnesses included Tamia Woods, Co-Founder of the Do It for James Foundation, Jessica Lieber Smolar, a former Assistant United States Attorney, and Lauren Coffren, Executive Direcor of the Exploited Children Division for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Senator Britt began her remarks by thanking Mrs. Woods for sharing the heartbreaking story of her son James, who died by suicide, after being sextorted: “Thank you for continuing to tell your story. Thank you for continuing to honor James … As parents, we’re all just doing the best we can, and I am grateful to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have come together … not as Democrats [or] Republicans, but as concerned parents and grandparents, knowing that what we’re facing right now is just beyond comprehension. As a mom … you work so diligently to keep your children safe … [you used to] get them home at night, and you would lock the doors, and you’d be able to kind of exhale. And now the enemy is inside our home. The people who want to do our children harm are in the palm of their hand.
“And if we can’t do this as Congress, I mean, what are we here for? We are here to protect the most vulnerable. We are here to protect our greatest asset. And to me, that is [the] next generation. And so, thank you for continuing to raise your voice and ensure that you push this body to do what it needs to.”
She then directed her first line of questioning to Mrs. Woods, asking her to share more about what Congress can enact now to help save lives.
Mrs. Woods responded, saying: “Well, one, I definitely think education … Because the crime will never go away. Even if we set laws, we still have to educate our kids, our community, to make sure that we know when this happens, we can fight against it.”
Mrs. Woods continued, “I guess I’m coming from a mom and a naive stance. I don’t understand why it’s so hard to pass laws … I just don’t understand how hard it is to protect our children. We won’t have a world without them.”
Senator Britt thanked Mrs. Woods for her advocacy, noting, “The fact that they continue to prey—and that is exactly what social media companies are doing, are preying on our children—because they know having our kids on their platform is how they make more money, and they are unwilling to do the right thing and help us ensure that these kids are protected.
“And it is moms like you, it is people like you, that are stepping up and saying, ‘We must do more.’ That will ultimately force people in this body, force people and in the House to actually do the right thing. So, thank you. It should be simple. And this is common sense.”
The Senator directed her last question to Ms. Coffren, asking her about some of the biggest challenges the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is facing in the current environment. Ms. Coffren responded by discussing reporting standards and the need to increase those standards so that social media companies are required to more accurately report abuses on their platforms.
Ms. Lieber added that the law enforcement community would be helped by having additional tools to be able to prosecute these crimes.
You can view the Senator’s full line of questioning here.
Senator Britt has been a longtime champion and advocate for social media safety and reform legislation. Recently, she joined Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) in introducing bipartisan legislation to protect minors from AI chatbots, and has sponsored a number of other bipartisan bills including the Stop the Scroll Act and the Kids off Social Media Act.
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