The dangers listed in the bill include everything from suicide, substance abuse and harassment to anxiety, depression, academic dishonesty and sharing one’s home address or phone number. Third-party safety software often uses contextual artificial intelligence to decide what content to flag, Gong-Gershowitz said.

To address concerns about protecting sensitive, non-threatening information, Gong-Gershowitz filed an amendment to the bill that specifies that “user data solely limited to resources, support or information related to reproductive health, sexual orientation or gender identity shall not constitute a harm” that would trigger a notification from third-party safety software.

The progressive coalition remains opposed to the legislation, saying the amendment fails to assuage underlying concerns of child users feeling unsafe to communicate with others about such topics online.

“How do you account for the fact that somebody’s expressing anxiety, but maybe the reason for the anxiety is because their parents aren’t accepting that they’re LGBTQ?” said Ed Yohnka of the ACLU of Illinois. “Maybe it’s because they’re having trouble with, you know, other friends in school who aren’t, and the parents aren’t supportive. It doesn’t change that harm at the end of the day.”

Technology advocacy groups including the national trade organization Chamber of Progress also stand against the proposed legislation. Policy analyst Hope Ledford testified during a House Consumer Protection Committee hearing last month that such measures could compromise child users’ privacy rights.

“While it’s important to encourage parental involvement to ensure minor safety online, they are not always best suited to control how their child uses an online platform,” Ledford said. “LGBTQ+ youth use online platforms to seek emotional support, search for information about their identities and find entities that accept them when their parents do not.”

Ledford also touted steps taken by social media companies to make their services safer such as Snapchat Family Center, which parents can opt into to receive limited information about a teen’s activity and restrict viewing of some sensitive content.

Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. and TikTok declined to answer questions for this story on their reasoning for prohibiting parents from using third-party safety software.

While waiting to see if the bill moves forward in the general assembly, the Bronsteins said they will continue working through the nonprofit they founded after Nate’s death, Buckets Over Bullying, to educate kids and other parents about the dangers of growing up with unfettered access to social media.

“When you see your peer in trouble, you’ve got to get help,” Rose Bronstein said. “You’re actually getting a child out of trouble and not in trouble. … That’s the message that I’m trying to impress, because if somebody would have said ‘people are being mean, things are circulating about Nate Bronstein,’ things could have changed so much. We wouldn’t be here today.”

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For 24/7 help, call the free and confidential National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

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