The mother of a teenage sextortion victim who died by suicide is frustrated lawmakers are not taking more action to stop the harms to children by social media.

“It should be so simple to pass these laws,” said Mary Rodee, "but social media companies are spending millions of dollars to lobby to stop a law that protects kids.”

Rodee, a Canton Central School teacher, recently took her fight to support online safety reforms for children to Albany, New York City and Washington, D.C.

Rodee has been fighting to keep children safer online and for greater parent awareness of the harms of social media since her son, Riley Basford, 15, Potsdam, killed himself in 2021 after he became a victim of an online sextortion scam on Facebook,

Rodee shared her story at a Mothers Against Media Addiction (MAMA) rally in New York City and with lawmakers in Albany last month.

The rally was in support of the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act that would prevent social media from using addictive feeds on users under 18 without parental consent, said state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, who introduced the bill in 2023.

Ralliers also encouraged passage of the NY Child Data Protection Act, which would stop online sites from collecting and selling children’s data, he said.

Shocked and flabbergasted

Rodee is a member of the Common Sense Media group that helped organize the rally to pass these state laws.

But she was “shocked and flabbergasted” by the lack of knowledge and support of state lawmakers who were unfamiliar with the two proposed laws.

“How horrible is it to have to keep begging for basic regulations?” she asked.

Social media’s whole idea “is to hold you on the device for as long as they can,” feeding kids more content so they can make more money, she explained.

Rodee  and other members of the Parents S.O.S. group who have lost their kids to social media harm are also pushing for passage of the federally proposed bill, Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).

But Senate Majority Leader “Chuck Schumer still is not bringing it to the Senate floor, despite the 67 co-sponsors,” she said.

“KOSA has more meat than the proposed state laws,” said Rodee. “What I want is transparency and reporting data.”

Social media companies serve up their products to billions of people and rarely report the “harmful data,” said Rodee. They should have to share information such as how many teens report getting unsolicited sexual content sent to them, she said.

Social media companies should also have to take down harmful sites, like the “Choking Challenge” and other life-threatening activities, she said.

The Choking Challenge encourages users to get a “high” from choking themselves until they pass out, but it has led to many child deaths.

“But the sites don’t take them down. They don’t put warning content,” she said.

Can’t sue big tech

“I can’t sue big tech. I cannot sue Meta (parent company of Facebook) because of the way the laws are in place right now,” said Rodee.

“It’s amazing that social media companies don’t have to give us anything for killing our kids, and still those people who did that to Riley, via their site, still exist and are doing this to kids. Nothing stopped them,” she said.

Rodee hopes the proposed laws “are bringing a discussion of the harm being done to kids from online media use. That is really why I am advocating for these laws.”

She has been discouraged by the misinformation out there. Many parents think their children are safe from harm, and they are not aware of the amount of tracking and information that is being collected about our youngest kids.”

She cited the social media law just passed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. “But it doesn’t restrict social media companies whatsoever. It is only saying you have to be 14 to have social media, but what will be the checks on that? How will it be enforced? That law will lead people to think ‘Oh good, we’re getting there.”

But it is giving parents a false hope, she says.

 Help for other parents

Rodee’s immediate goals are to know the most up-to-date information to help other parents.

She says she often gets parents contacting her, saying “My child has been victimized online and I have no idea what to do.”

“I am trying to get better at helping people through their problems. But one of the troubles is there are not a lot of great resources for them,” she said.

Rodee hopes other parents do not have to go through what she went through, with more awareness of the issues and the passage of online safety reforms.