Social media companies face increasing pressure to protect children and teens.

Pam Marino here. A couple of weeks ago, I was able to interview Laura Berman, a well-known relationship therapist who in recent years has turned her attention to helping people who are grieving. The turn came after she experienced a terrible tragedy—her 16-year-old son Sammy died in 2021 after ingesting a fentanyl-laced pill he purchased from a drug dealer on Snapchat.

Berman shared the story with me in the lead up to her talk at the annual Hospice Giving Foundation Gratitude Luncheon, which took place Thursday, March 26. She gave an insightful lecture to the audience of nearly 200 in a room overlooking the Pebble Beach Golf Links.

In addition to talking yesterday about her story and the transformational power of grief, she also shared how she and her husband, Sam Chapman, have turned to activism to save other children like Sammy. Berman, who turned her focus to helping other grieving mothers after Sammy’s death, credits her husband with turning his focus into lobbying for legislative action.

Together they’re promoting “Sammy’s Law,” House of Representatives Bill 2657, introduced last year by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The bill would require large social media platforms to permit the usage of safety software so that parents may monitor and manage the social media activity of minors under the age of 17. 

Berman has testified before Congressional hearings, and the couple, with other families who lost a child to an overdose after purchasing drugs on Snapchat, have been putting pressure on Snapchat to prevent drug dealers from targeting children. One major protest with 40 families took place in February outside of Snapchat’s headquarters in Santa Monica.

That Snapchat is a conduit for drug sales is well reported. Here in Monterey County a 15-year-old Pacific Grove boy died of an overdose in 2022 after purchasing fentanyl-laced pills on Snapchat. That same year authorities arrested three young men, ages 18 and 19, who were selling drugs to high school students via Snapchat.

The company, Snap Inc., is facing several lawsuits from parents and states, claiming that the company is to blame for children’s deaths, addictions or the access that drug dealers have to the children. Berman told the audience that she’s spoken to Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel multiple times but thinks he doesn’t care because the more platform users there are, the more money for the company.

The tide may be turning against social media companies, especially after Wednesday’s precedent-setting verdict in Los Angeles against Facebook (Meta) and Google (Alphabet), in which a jury found the companies negligent for creating social media platforms harmful to teens and children. The jury found Meta liable for $4.2 million in damages and Google liable for $1.8 million.

If you’re thinking that sounds like a small amount of money for such profitable companies, you’d be right—Meta reported revenues of $60.4 billion last year, Alphabet reported $402 billion. Snap, Inc. reported nearly $6 billion.

Regardless, there is growing pressure on these companies to do better by children and teens. Parents like Berman and Chapman are committed to seeing it happen as soon as possible so other families don’t suffer the same fate that they did.