SAVE Urges House Energy and Commerce Committee to Advance Strongest Possible Kids Online Safety Act
Erich Mische is CEO of SAVE - Suicide Awareness Voices of Education.
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National suicide prevention nonprofit calls for duty of care and preservation of state authority to protect children from social media and AI harms
The proposed legislative package, expected to be introduced by Committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), includes the Kids Online Safety Act alongside additional measures addressing gaming, chatbots, age verification, and protections against sexually explicit content. While SAVE recognizes the significance of this effort, the organization is urging lawmakers to ensure that the final legislation meaningfully protects children and families.
“At SAVE, we have worked alongside families across this country who have lost children to suicide connected to their experiences on social media and digital platforms,” said Erich Mische, CEO of SAVE. “This is not theoretical. This is happening in real time, in communities across America.”
SAVE is specifically calling on the Committee to:
• Include strong and enforceable duty of care provisions that require technology platforms to actively prevent and mitigate harm to children, rather than simply respond after harm has occurred
• Reject any federal preemption language that would weaken or override state level laws designed to protect children online
• Ensure protections extend to emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and chatbot systems increasingly interacting with youth
Over the past two years, SAVE has worked with hundreds of organizations nationwide to advance federal and state policies aimed at protecting children from the harms of social media and artificial intelligence. These efforts have been informed directly by families who have experienced devastating loss.
“Parents should not have to fight trillion-dollar technology companies on their own,” Mische added. “A strong federal framework must set a clear standard of responsibility, while preserving the ability of states to act when additional protections are needed.”
SAVE also emphasized concern that weakening duty of care provisions or including broad preemption language could significantly undermine the effectiveness of the legislation.
“This is a pivotal moment,” Mische said. “Congress has an opportunity to act with clarity and courage. This cannot be about simply passing a bill. It must be about passing one with the strongest possible protections for kids.”
Mische stressed that the U.S. Senate currently has 75 co-sponsors on its version of KOSA. SAVE is urging bipartisan collaboration to strengthen the legislation during markup and to ensure that the final bill reflects the urgency and severity of the risks facing young people online.
Erich Mische
SAVE - Suicide Awareness Voices of Education
+1 651-600-1188
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