U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has released a new episode of her podcast, ‘Unmuted with Marsha,’ featuring Brian Montgomery, whose 16-year-old son Walker died by suicide after being targeted in a sextortion scheme on Instagram. Montgomery has since become an advocate for online child safety and was instrumental in passing two bills named after his son in Mississippi.
Senator Blackburn is set to lead a hearing that will look into whistleblower claims alleging that Meta concealed research related to child safety. She has also called for Meta to disable its Instagram “map” feature and requested an investigation after reports surfaced about the company’s internal AI rules allowing chatbots to have sensual conversations with minors.
“Meta is using our children as a product. They’re making money off of them. They are selling their information. So, if you have a child or a grandchild, when they are online, they are the product… I want to welcome Brian Montgomery to Unmuted. Brian, I just want to say thank you. You’ve had this personal tragedy, and you’ve made safety of our children really a mission set, keeping our kids safe in the virtual space. And your son Walker took his life, and I want you just to talk a little bit about Walker and why it is so important to you that you have taken on this cause,” said Senator Blackburn.
“When Walker went to bed the night of November the 30th, what we assumed was just a very normal night, and what we later found out that it was a normal night until midnight when somebody, when some predator from across the world attacked Walker through social media… In the course of two to four hours, Walker went from just going to bed on a normal night to having taken his own life,” said Montgomery.
Blackburn has previously demanded answers from Meta regarding emotional targeting of children and alleged failures in complying with child privacy laws (https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2023/6/blackburn-grassley-hawley-demand-answers-on-meta-s-emotional-targeting-of-children-repeated-alleged-failures-to-comply-with-child-privacy-law). She has also criticized Meta following reports that its AI rules allowed bots to engage in inappropriate chats with minors (https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-senator-blackburn-shreds-meta-after-bombshell-report-reveals-companys-ai-rules-allowed-bots-engage-sensual-chats-with-kids-2024-05-22/). In addition, she joined other lawmakers urging Meta to shut down features like Instagram Map due to concerns over risks posed by pedophiles and traffickers (https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2024/5/blackburn-blumenthal-urge-meta-to-shut-down-instagram-map-feature-to-protect-kids-from-pedophiles-traffickers) and demanding accountability after further reports about harms faced by minors (https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2024/5/blackburn-blumenthal-demand-accountability-from-meta-following-bombshell-report-detailing-latest-failures-to-protect-minors-from-harm).
Senator Blackburn is among those who introduced the Kids Online Safety Act (https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1409), which aims at strengthening protections for children online.
