![]() "That meeting left a really bad taste in our mouth," she said. In April, a group of about a dozen aggrieved parents met with three Snap executives over Zoom to discuss the company's efforts to address the problem.Īccording to Neville, whose son Alexander died of fentanyl poisoning in June 2020, and who was one of the parents at that meeting, the Snap executives discussed plans to create a series of public service announcements among other measures, but most on the call left feeling disappointed. Zuckerberg at Facebook: 'this is how we do it'," he said.Ī crowd of protesters gathers outside Snap's Santa Monica headquarters Photo by Sam Blake/ dot.LAįriday's rally is the latest step in a growing movement among parents to address what they view as a dangerous and tragic cocktail of an increasing supply of illicit drugs and social media platforms that make it easy for kids to access them. ![]() ![]() assistant attorney general who is running for California attorney general addressed Spiegel directly. The bill, known as Alexandra's Law, failed to make it out of the state Senate's Public Safety Committee.Ĭapelouto's advocacy did, however, catch the attention of Nathan Hochman, who spoke briefly at Friday's protest. "Now we know what those unintended consequences are: they're right here in all these pictures," he said.Ĭapelouto also spoke about his disappointment over the defeat in March of Califorinia Senate Bill 350, which would have treated fentanyl dealers like drunk drivers: repeat offenders whose actions result in someone's death can be charged with murder. He told Friday's crowd that Section 230, the federal legislation that shields online publishers from responsibility for the content on their platforms, was passed at a time when the consequences of social media were unknown. Matt Capelouto lost his daughter Alexandra in December 2019. Many in the crowd carried posters with the faces of their deceased children and siblings, framed by a black and yellow border mimicking Snapchat's interface, with captions calling the app "an accomplice to my murder." "We are going to keep fighting you until you let parents protect our children," she shouted. ![]() Spiegel also told Chapman and Berman that Snap would look into improving its reporting of statistics on how many subpoenas it receives to help with criminal investigations and how quickly it responds to those subpoenas.Īt the protest, Berman briefed the crowd that she had told Spiegel that he has a choice: to be part of a problem or part of a solution. According to Chapman, Spiegel said Snap could not do that, and cited issues with user privacy and potential challenges with scalability.Ī representative from Snap confirmed the substance of the conversation but said Snap is generally open to working with third party solutions for parental monitoring. He and his wife want Snap to allow parents to monitor their children's accounts through third-party software, in particular an app called Bark. The couple spoke with Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and another Snap executive by phone just before the march.Ĭhapman said the call left him dissatisfied, describing the conversation as "sweet platitudes" and "a basket of excuses." Their 16-year-old son Sammy died in February of poisoning from fentanyl that he took after purchasing what he thought was Oxycontin through Snapchat, Chapman said. Laura Berman, a high-profile therapist who's shared advice on daytime programs including Dr. Evan Spiegel than our dead children," shouted Jaime Puerta, who lost his son Daniel to fentanyl poisoning in April 2020 at the age of 16.Īmong the marchers and speakers was Dr. "Corporate greed and the almighty dollar are more important to Mr. Instead, they unknowingly received fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid that killed them. The protest was organized by a coalition of grassroots advocacy groups and parents who share a similar, sad story: Their kids had used social media apps including Snapchat and TikTok to connect with drug dealers, from whom they sought to purchase prescription pills like Oxycontin and Percocet. Neville is one of dozens of parents who marched Friday to Snap's headquarters to protest the role they feel Snapchat played in the deaths of their children. "Snapchat has given drug dealers an organic ecommerce platform," Amy Neville shouted into her megaphone. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |