Parents for Safe Online Spaces (ParentsSOS) is a left-of-center campaign that advocates for speech restrictions on online platforms. It campaigns on behalf of a coalition of parents who state they have lost children who died as a result of problems the parents link to online platform use. ¹

Background

Parents for Safe Online Spaces is a project created by Fairplay and the David’s Legacy Foundation to campaign in support of the Kids Online Safety Act. ParentsSOS has partnered with Accountable Tech and Design It For Us to support the Kids Online Safety Act sponsored by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). ²

The Kids Online Safety Act would require online platforms to restrict access and prohibit what it determines to be “harmful content” to children. ParentSOS advocates for the Kids Online Safety Act as a means of making online platforms liable for their content and accessibility. ³

Kids Online Safety Act

Parents for Safe Online Spaces campaigns in support of the Kids Online Safety Act that was first introduced in 2022 by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) while representing a coalition of parents who state they have lost children who died as a result of problems the parents link to online platform use. It provides media engagements for parents of deceased children to advocate for the bill and other regulations on online platforms that would restrict platform access and content. ⁴

In February 2024, ParentsSOS published an open letter to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), asking to bring the Kids Online Safety Act to a vote. The letter blames U.S. Congress’s lack of regulations on online platforms for the deaths and other forms of harms inflicted on youth internet users. It lists concerns of how content can contribute to mental health issues and how children can engage in communications that result in harm. The letter is co-signed by over 250 parents who are listed with the names and ages of their deceased child. ⁵

ParentsSOS advocates for individuals to contact their elected officials using Fairplay’s Kids Online Safety Act cosponsor portal. The portal provides individuals with instructions on how to contact their elected officials and “talking points” to use to advocate for them to cosponsor the Kids Online Safety Act. ^{6 7}

ParentsSOS also provides its own list of sample advocacy posts for activists to use on social media to advocate for the Kids Online Safety Act. The posts criticize social media companies for earning revenue and promote for regulations on content that allegedly could endanger children. ⁸

ParentsSOS maintains a web page displaying stories of how children were victimized due to their online activity. Under each child’s story is a testimony from their parents that advocates for the Kids Online Safety Act or free speech regulations in general, often claiming that such regulations would have prevented their deaths. ⁹

Leadership

Todd Minor co-founded Parents for Safe Online Spaces after his child passed away attempting a social media challenge where individuals attempted to force themselves to black out. Minor reports that he co-founded ParentsSOS to advocate for speech restrictions on online platforms based on his belief that social media companies publish engaging, seemingly endless content that has resulted in children being exposed to content that can cause harm. ¹⁰

1. Accountable Tech, Design It For Us, Fairplay, and et al. Letter to The Honorable Chuck Schumer, February 8, 2024. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/65a56885a72f1c4f2b4f53ef/t/65c3bd9929a3425943069b3f/1707326873887/Senate+Letter+Action.pdf.
2. “ICYMI: Kids Online Safety Act Week of Action: Parents, Young People, & Advocates Call for Bill’s Passage amid Senate Hearing with Big Tech CEOS: U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.” Richard Blumenthal U.S. Senator for Connecticut, February 2, 2024. https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/icymi-kids-online-safety-act-week-of-action-parents-young-people-and-advocates-call-for-bills-passage-amid-senate-hearing-with-big-tech-ceos.
3. Johnston, Windsor. “A Historic New Law Would Protect Kids Online and Hold Tech Companies Accountable.” NPR, August 3, 2024. https://www.npr.org/2024/08/02/nx-s1-5057818/kids-online-safety-act-cyberbullying-children-internet-social-media.
4. “Our Work.” Parents for Safe Online Spaces. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://www.parentssos.org/work.
5. Accountable Tech, Design It For Us, Fairplay, and et al. Letter to The Honorable Chuck Schumer, February 8, 2024. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/65a56885a72f1c4f2b4f53ef/t/65c3bd9929a3425943069b3f/1707326873887/Senate+Letter+Action.pdf
6. “Our Work.” Parents for Safe Online Spaces. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://www.parentssos.org/work.
7. “Get the Kids Online Safety Act Passed!” Fairplay. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://fairplay.salsalabs.org/kosa/index.html.
8. “#ProtectKidsChallenge.” Parents for Safe Online Spaces. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/65a56885a72f1c4f2b4f53ef/t/65b3eb176e6f913d42917df5/1706289944673/ParentsSOS+ProtectKidsChallenge+Toolkit.pdf.
9. “Stories.” Parents for Safe Online Spaces. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://www.parentssos.org/stories.
10. Minor, Todd. “My Father’s Day Request: A Safer Internet in Honor of My Lost Son.” The Hill, June 18, 2024. https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/4722943-my-fathers-day-request-a-safer-internet-in-honor-of-my-lost-son/.