BOULDER, Colo. — Lori Schott, a grieving mother from the eastern plains town of Merino, is pushing for change so no one else has to feel her pain.
“I lost my daughter, Annalee, when she was 18, to suicide,” she told Denver7 Thursday. “The design of social media, the impact of addiction on these platforms is something that everybody, every parent, every community member, every legislator, needs to know and understand.
“We're never going to stop swinging on this. It needs to stop.”
Schott is taking on social media giants, advocating for more regulation aimed at protecting kids. She says while her daughter was vulnerable and struggling with her mental health, Instagram and TikTok algorithms sent her into a spiral.
“My daughter left journals,” Schott explained. “She made statements about how social media impacted her. She saw… a live suicide and horrific content that she didn't ask for.”
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Schott was one of the speakers at a town hall in Boulder Thursday night to discuss the risk social media and artificial intelligence chatbots can pose to kids and teens. Other grieving parents spoke about their experiences, while Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty discussed social media’s role in illicit drug sales and the sexual exploitation of kids.
The town hall also was organized by Blue Rising, a Colorado nonprofit working to protect youth from the dangers of drug abuse, social media and youth violence.
Thursday’s town hall also addressed the risk surrounding artificial intelligence companion chatbots.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who spoke at Thursday’s town hall, issued a consumer alert to parents this spring about the chatbots, citing a “sharp rise in reports of children engaging in risky behavior, including self-harm.”
“We were asleep when it came to social media,” Weiser told Denver7 Thursday. “Kids were harmed. We need to be awake when it comes to AI chatbots.”
Weiser says the battle must be fought in court. Two years ago, he joined a lawsuit against social media giant Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and other platforms.
“We're still figuring out how we protect kids' online safety,” Weiser said. "The message to the industry is you need to take responsibility for your platforms."
Earlier this year, Colorado lawmakers passed a bill, SB25-086, requiring social media companies ban users involved in illegal activity on their platforms.
But Gov. Jared Polis vetoed the bill, saying it could hurt privacy, innovation and free speech. In his veto letter, Polis wrote the bill “mandates a private company to investigate and impose the government’s chosen penalty of permanently deplatforming a user even if the underlying complaint is malicious and unwarranted.”
Colorado’s legislature failed to override the veto.
Weiser and Schott disagree with Polis.
“The First Amendment doesn't give companies the right to hurt kids,” Weiser said Thursday.
“I still struggle with that [veto] to this day,” Schott said. “But I'm not going to stop fighting for change. Colorado is a wonderful state. Put children first, put Big Tech way down the list.”
Advocates say they plan to introduce new social media legislation during the next session.
