The US lags other countries in social media restrictions for kids, but a reform push is growing

Amy Neville describes Kristin Bride as her “soulmate.” But the day that forged their bond — June 23, 2020 — was the worst of each of their lives.

Both Bride and Neville lost their teen sons that day. Their kids lived a thousand miles apart and never met, but they both died from harms related to their social media use.

When the two mothers met, early in their advocacy work to protect other kids, Bride said she had felt “totally alone.” But they have since seen the online child safety movement blossom, with scores of other parents who lost kids pursuing stronger social media safeguards and legislation to protect children online.

With that momentum, advocates say the tide seems to be turning. A pair of landmark jury verdicts this year showed a way forward for holding tech companies accountable. And while the U.S. is nowhere near embracing social media bans for children like those seen from Australia to Indonesia, a push for regulation is simmering again in Congress.

“Moving forward for me, it’s this groundswell. We now have the court of public opinion on our side, and that is powerful. That has brought things to the next level,” Neville said in an interview.

Her son Alexander Neville was “brilliant and intense,” Neville said, with an entrepreneurial spirit and “the best laugh in the world.” When he was 14, a drug dealer connected with him on Snapchat and sold him the pill that killed him. Carson Bride was the “bright light” of his family, a funny and caring kid who loved connecting with people, his mother said. He died by suicide at age 16 after severe cyberbullying.

The teenagers were honored in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday alongside 270 other children and young people who died because of online harms. It was the sixth anniversary of the boys' deaths, a date their families have worked to establish as Social Media Victims Remembrance Day.

Growing awareness of the dangers social media poses for young, developing brains has shown up in a wave of new restrictions globally. Australia, the U.K., Turkey, Indonesia and others have passed bans on kids under 16 or 15 from using platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.

In the U.S., the movement turned a corner with two jury verdicts against Meta and one against Google that galvanized proponents for kids' online safety. Evidence in the court cases revealed some of the tech companies' inner workings, including communications of employees who likened their products to drugs and casinos.

That the Los Angeles trial accusing social media platforms of causing deliberate harm to children was allowed to move forward was itself a watershed movement, said Matthew Bergman, head of the Social Media Victims Law Center, which represents more than 1,000 plaintiffs in lawsuits against social media companies.

Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act shields tech companies from legal responsibility for posted content. It has been a barrier to accountability but lawsuits are side-stepping its protections by focusing on the companies' deliberate design choices rather than content.

"It is still a hurdle, but it is no longer a barrier,” Bergman said.

In the U.S., federal legislation of social media has moved at a glacial pace. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which took effect in 2000, requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parents’ consent before collecting personal information of children under 13.

This week, lawmakers in the House unveiled a bipartisan deal called the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act. It includes portions of the the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, which passed the Senate in 2024, but critics say it’s been stripped of its most important part — a provision called “duty of care,” a legal term that requires companies to take reasonable steps to prevent harm.

“Without a duty of care, Big Tech companies will maintain the status quo of putting profit before the safety of our children,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said in a statement.

Bride said advocates have to employ a three-prong approach, utilizing legislation, litigation and education. That way, “when one stalls, like legislation,” Bride said, “then we have the trials and we have litigation. So we keep pressing forward. We’re not going to give up.”

Representatives from Meta, YouTube and TikTok did not immediately respond to messages for comment. Snap said in a written statement that it works continuously to strengthen safety protections across its platform.

Over the years, social media platforms have introduced some safety features including separating minors into teen accounts and providing even tighter restrictions for younger teenagers. Instagram, for instance, now restricts teen accounts to viewing content that aligns with “PG-13” ratings and accounts are set to private and can’t be messaged by strangers. YouTube has a separate kids app and parental controls on its regular platform that allow for “supervised kid accounts” for preteens who have aged out of YouTube kids.

But child advocates say there’s still a long way to go.

“Their fundamental incentive to design products that maximize engagement has not changed," Bergman said. "Yes, there have been some improvements. A 13-year-old child is not by default provided with an open account for adult predators to prey upon. So, you know, there are baby steps, but there are steps in the right direction. We just need more of them.”

Since 2024, the Senate has passed a resolution annually to recognize June 23 as Social Media Harms Victim Remembrance Day, which honors the lives of those who died because of online harms including suicide, drug poisoning, cyberbullying and dangerous social media challenges.

Alongside several parents and advocates who spoke at the event Tuesday evening — including Bride and Neville — senators called for urgent action.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., advocated for the repeal of Section 230. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said advocates and lawmakers need to “fight like hell for the living.” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., assailed his fellow Congress members for not doing more, saying “we all know why” they haven't acted.

“It’s the same reason that the companies want the kids online, want their privacy destroyed, want all their information — it’s money,” Hawley said, noting the technology industry provides campaign contributions to lawmakers and spends millions on lobbying annually.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has invited the CEOs of Meta, Alphabet, TikTok and Snap to testify at an upcoming hearing about children's safety on their platforms. The committee has suggested the U.S. is reaching a tipping point for awareness of the risks of social media, asking in the hearing title, "Is This Social Media’s Big Tobacco Moment?”

Bride and Neville will attentively listen to what the tech CEOs say under oath — as they did during a similar hearing in 2024 and many other events related to kids online safety — and they remain optimistic.

Neville said she feels that “every morning I wake up, lives are on the line. If we’re not talking about these things, if we’re not doing something about it, lives are on line,” she said. “And that’s probably not good for my nervous system, but that’s the state that I’ll live in until I’ll probably die on this hill.”

Brittney Bird, from left, is comforted by her husband Luke Bird and daughter Aurora Bird as they remember her son Bradyn Bohn, 15, during a Social Media Victims Remembrance Day memorial on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Aaron Neville, father of 14-year-old Alexander Neville, who died from fentanyl poisoning after being deceived by a drug dealer operating on Snapchat, wipes tears from his eyes during a Social Media Victims Remembrance Day memorial on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. speaks during a Social Media Victims Remembrance Day memorial on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Carrie Baeten, second from right, remembers her 18-year-old son Jack McDonough, during a Social Media Victims Remembrance Day memorial on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Kristin Bride, right, mother of 16-year-old Carson Bride, who died by suicide after being cyber-bullied on an anonymous app on Snapchat, is joined by Amy Neville, left, mother of 14-year-old Alexander Neville, who died from fentanyl poisoning after being deceived by a drug dealer operating on Snapchat, during a Social Media Victims Remembrance Day memorial on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Comedian Bill Maher will be awarded the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday in what might be one of the last major onstage moments at the Kennedy Center for the next several years.

The award has been presented since 1998 as a way to recognize those who have made significant contributions to humor and commentary in the United States. In announcing the honor in March, the Kennedy Center described Maher as someone who has long influenced American comedy “one politically incorrect joke at a time,” a reference to the late-night show “Politically Incorrect" that he hosted for much of the 1990s and helped lift him to prominence.

Previous winners include Conan O’Brien, Dave Chappelle, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Letterman, Carol Burnett and Tina Fey. Woody Harrelson, Arianna Huffington and Jay Leno are among the celebrities expected to appear at the Sunday night ceremony.

President Donald Trump, who has spent much of his second term reshaping the performing arts venue, is not expected to attend.

The awards come at an awkward moment for the Kennedy Center, long one of the few relatively nonpartisan institutions in Washington. Shortly after Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, the Republican president fired much of the center's leadership and installed a board largely composed of allies. It named Trump as chairman and his name was added to the building's iconic facade, prompting a legal battle that became a proxy fight over the extent of the president's power.

Trump later said the Kennedy Center would close in July for a two-year renovation. But U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper upended those plans in May by ruling that Trump's name was illegally added to the building, ordering it removed. The judge also has blocked the closure.

The legal fight has turned into a saga that could be easy fodder for jokes at the Twain gala.

Trump's name has come down from the building, in compliance with the judge's order. But the part of the building once covered with letters spelling the president's name is now shrouded in a tarp. The full closure is on hold. Lawyers for the Kennedy Center have said they are not planning for now to build out programming.

“The Court’s order did not affirmatively require the Board to reschedule programming that had previously been cancelled or to seek new programming,” the lawyers wrote in a court filing this month.

Cooper has asked for an update next month on how long the tarp will remain on the building. For now, the final event scheduled for the Kennedy Center's well-known Concert Hall is “The Freedom Gathering: A Musical Celebration” on July 3.

Given Trump's sway over the Kennedy Center, Maher's selection for the award is notable because the two men have long had a fraught relationship.

Before he entered politics, Trump filed a $5 million lawsuit against Maher in 2013 for breach of contract. Appearing on Leno’s “The Tonight Show,” Maher said he would give $5 million to the charity of Trump’s choice if Trump could prove he was not “the spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan.”

Trump claimed that when he provided his birth certificate, Maher did not pay up, prompting the lawsuit. Trump ended up dropping it.

The Trump-Maher relationship exploded again earlier this year, when the president claimed on social media that he wasted time sitting down for a meal with the comedian last year.

“He came into the famed Oval Office much different than I thought he would be,” Trump wrote online. “He was extremely nervous, had ZERO confidence in himself.” Trump said the comedian admitted he was “scared.”

Maher, during his April 11 episode of “Real Time,” described the dinner. He said Trump was “gracious and measured” and not like the “person who plays a crazy person on TV.” Maher said he was not scared.

He took time in his “New Rules” segment to point out the various Trump policies he liked, including the “mass removal of stone cold criminals” and making NATO members pay “their fair share.”

“I may be the last person from the lunatic left that is still an honest broker when it comes to you,” he said.

Maher hosted Vice President JD Vance on his show heading into the weekend. Vance, who is promoting a book, said he watches the show and laughed at Maher's monologue “even though you were making fun of me.” During the interview, Maher pressed Vance on the Iran war, immigration enforcement and election conspiracy theories.

“You guys have two outcomes that an election can be,” Maher told Vance. “Either we win or they cheated. That s—- has to stop.”

Maher's selection for the award was itself the subject of drama.

After The Atlantic reported in March that Maher would win the award, the White House pushed back hard. White House communications director Steven Cheung said on social media that the story was “literally FAKE NEWS.” Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, also called the initial report “fake news” and said Maher “will NOT be getting this award.”

The situation evolved after further conversations between the Kennedy Center and event organizers.

Beyond Maher, other celebrities expected to appear on Sunday have had up-and-down relationships with Trump. The president and Huffington, for instance, have feuded at points for more than a decade.

Stephen A. Smith, the sports analyst who is among those expected to appear at the ceremony, recently knocked Trump for attending the NBA Finals earlier this month in New York. Smith, who has signaled political ambitions of his own, called the move “selfish” and “narcissistic.”

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is seen, as its sign remains covered by a tarp, Friday, June 19, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)