OPINION
Being a father is one of the greatest joys in my life.
This Father’s Day, I'll celebrate with my older sons, Chris and Cliff.
But, I will also feel the profound loss of my youngest boy, David.
He would have turned 26 this year.
David was a sophomore in San Antonio, Texas, when his troubles began in 2015.
He had been a happy, responsible kid – an Eagle Scout and an athlete.
After a basketball injury took him off the court, he began spending more time gaming online and later ventured into social media. With that came signs of addiction to social
media.
In the latter part of 2015, David endured relentless cyberbullying and harassment by individuals and groups of students online.
The abuse included physical threats, comments about his appearance, and suicide baiting.
Cumulatively, they took a terrible toll on his mental health and left him feeling hopeless, humiliated, and trapped.
As parents, we tried everything — even changing schools.
We made sure he had mental health support. It wasn’t enough.
On Jan. 4, 2016, he took his own life shortly after being added to a group text in which he was mocked mercilessly.
He was 16.
You may think that he must have been a chronically unhappy kid, that this couldn't have happened so quickly, that social media can't be that powerful.
The evidence says otherwise.
Research from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, drawing on data from more than 10,000 adolescents, found that those who experienced cyberbullying were more than four times as likely to report thoughts of suicide or attempt it.
Another study that followed 2,120 individuals over 17 years found that teenagers who were cyberbullied were far more likely to consider suicide, regardless of any prior mental health history, family challenges, or in-person bullying experiences.
The data points to a clear conclusion: social media requires guardrails to keep kids safe.
We understand that children need to be protected from many other things that can be dangerous to their well-being: drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, pornography, and gambling.
We know how dangerous unregulated social media is for kids, and we can't expect social media companies to police themselves.
Their rapacious behavior has made it abundantly clear that they are monetizing our kids' attention, creating and feeding addiction to their products, and will continue to put their profits ahead of kids' lives.
That's why Congress needs to pass the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).
KOSA is the most thoroughly vetted, bipartisan federal children's online safety bill ever drafted. Its "duty of care” provision, which would be enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requiring social media platforms to mitigate specific, documented harms – including cyberbullying, suicide promotion, sexual exploitation, eating disorders, and illegal drug exposure – that children routinely face when using their apps.
Amazingly, KOSA would be the first new federal law to protect kids online since 1998, long before the age of social media and smartphones.
The momentum behind this legislation is real.
In the last few months, juries in California and New Mexico have found tech companies liable for addicting children to their platforms and for rendering them vulnerable to dangerous actors who would exploit them.
A growing number of states have passed their own child safety laws, as have multiple countries globally, alongside a growing chorus of advocates, child safety experts, and lawmakers.
Simply, they are saying: enough is enough.
While state legislation can address some of the issues, action at the federal level is critical to close the loop to protect our country's most precious resource.
Providing strong leadership in this area is Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
He chairs the powerful Senate Commerce Committee that can advance the measure to a vote on the Senate floor where it passed 91-3 last session before stalling in the U.S. House.
Just a few weeks ago, Sen. Cruz made a bold promise, "We passed KOSA in the last Congress out of the Senate," he said.
"We’re going to pass it out of the Commerce Committee, we're going to pass it in the Senate, and we are going to work hand-in-hand to get it passed through the House and get it put on the president's desk and get it signed into law this year."
As a parent who has lived through the nightmare of losing a child, I am urging Sen. Cruz to keep that promise.
There is no greater legislative priority.
Way too many children's lives are at risk to wait any longer.
Father's Day is a day to celebrate, but it is also a day to reckon with what we owe the next generation – and to grapple with what we've failed to protect.
The joy my son David gave me cannot be lost. But he was.
Talk to your children about the dangers of social media and join me in demanding more legal protections for our nation's children.
Matt Molak, a USMC Veteran, works in the oil and gas business in San Antonio, Texas. He is and is a founder, along with his wife Maurine and two sons, of a foundation started in his son’s name, David's Legacy, to end bullying through education, legislation, and legal action.