Kristin Bride lost her 16-year-old son, Carson, to suicide in 2020. She says shortly before he took his own life he was bullied on the social media site Snapchat.
"Carson received over 100 harassing and sexually explicit texts from his high school classmates through an anonymous messaging app on Snapchat," Bride says. "The last search on his phone before he ended his life was for hacks to find out who was doing this to him."
Shortly after her son's death, Bride joined Parents for Safe Online Spaces, an organization of families who lost their children after they were exposed to toxic online content. Some died by suicide after cyberbullying or sextortion; others after participating in viral challenges involving self-harm or taking drugs sold by online dealers.
Bride is also part of an ongoing effort on Capitol Hill to craft legislation that would hold social media sites and other tech companies accountable for keeping minors safe online.
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