On July 14, 2019, our angel, Bianca was violently taken from us at the age of 17. The murderer posted extremely graphic and disturbing photos of Bianca's lifeless body on social media. The photos were uploaded and shared to several social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube and Discord. The images remained highly visible on Instagram and Facebook for over a week. Almost a year later, the images are still being shared on social media. Bianca's family has received numerous direct messages of the pictures on Instagram and Facebook. Further, when users reported the images for violating community guidelines/standards, many users received a response that the images did not violate community guidelines/standards or that the images would remain up with a sensitive content cover.
There are no words to adequately describe the pain, anger and feeling of loss our family is feeling after losing Bianca. To then have our daughter's death exploited and mocked on social media is a trauma no family should have to endure. Several of Bianca's friends found out about her death from seeing the photos. This exploitation and harassment on the internet cannot continue.
Social media and other internet companies must be held responsible for the content that is allowed on their platforms. We must demand that social media companies put in place software to detect violent and graphic images and block them before they are uploaded and shared. As a last line of defense, companies must have an adequate number of trained content moderators to ensure community compliance.
Bianca's Law seeks to preserve free and open speech online while addressing the proliferation of illicit content. The language of the Bill corrects the expansive interpretation and application of Section 230 which provides legal cover for companies that facilitate illicit content. This legislation is based on a recommendation made to Congress by the Department of Justice in 2020.
Bianca's law creates three narrow carve-outs under which internet companies would lose their 230 immunities:
1. A company purposefully acts to promote, solicit, or disseminate illegal content;
2. A company has specific knowledge of content on its site that violates the law; and
3. A company does not remove illegal content after it receives notice of a court ruling that the content violates the law.
The legislation also requires internet companies to maintain a public reporting mechanism so that users can flag the company of illegal content on its service.
Beyond the Section 230 carve-outs, Bianca's Law also includes:
1. Social media must be required to immediately disable and suspend accounts of murderers live-posting their murder AND those accounts impersonating the murderer.
2. Social media must have, use, and enforce a policy to stop the dissemination of banned (hashed) images in any and all forms.
3. Social media must be required to provide a crisis response center to respond in real-time to parents whose children are the victims of crimes on and through their platforms, including but not limited to child sexual exploitation and livestreamed or live-posted murder, rape, and violence. This crisis response center is to serve the purpose of stopping the spread of harmful material and preserving evidence for law enforcement and/or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 4. Social media companies must have, use, and enforce a policy recognizing the intellectual property interest of estates of deceased users.
Parents' Bill of Rights
All social media companies must have, use and enforce a policy recognizing a parent's right to control their deceased minor child's social media accounts. We also believe that parents must be given control of all their childrens' social media accounts whether the child is alive or deceased
PARENTS BILL OF RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO A CHILD'S SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
1. Ownership and control of a minor child's social media account should automatically transfer to the parents or legal guardians of that child upon the death or incapacitation of that child.
2. Any profits made by the social media through the posting of such graphic images should be placed in a "special fund" for victims. The social media companies must not be allowed to profit from the posting of such graphic images.
3. Social media must have a system for monitoring the profits made from postings of such graphic images retroactively to the time when they were ruled as inappropriate.
4. Social Media should not be allowed to "profit" on the viewing of images including but not limited to child sexual exploitation and livestreamed or live-posted murder, rape, and violence.
5. People who download, re-post or send/distribute these images should face criminal and civil penalties
Please sign this petition to show lawmakers that we will not tolerate the spread of violent and graphic images on the internet! We need laws enacted to force companies to protect citizens from the trauma and harassment that Bianca's family and friends have endured for the past year
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