Organization for Social Media Safety

As you may know, I have been deeply concerned with the growing dangers that social media poses to our families. As the first and only consumer protection organization exclusively focused on this issue, the Organization for Social Media Safety  (OFSMS) stands up to the social media companies, to make these increasingly dangerous platforms safer for everyone.  

With the mass adoption of social media beginning around 2006, serious social media-related dangers have been growing.  The statistics, particularly regarding children, are alarming: 

• Cyberbullying:  About 34% of students report experiencing cyberbullying. (Ten percent of cyberbullied teens attempt suicide.)

• Suicide: In 2020, the average teen spent 9 hours a day online with much of that time on social media. Teens using social media more than 5 hours daily were 70% more likely to have suicidal thoughts than those who reported one hour of daily use. 

• Mental Health: Teenagers who use social media for more than 3 hours daily are more likely to experience mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, aggression, and antisocial behavior.  According to Instagram’s own researchers, “‘We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls’

• Substance Abuse: Teens that use social media regularly are five times as likely to smoke cigarettes, three times as likely to abuse alcohol, and twice as likely to use marijuana. 

• Trafficking and Sex Crimes: A whopping 82% of child sex crimes originate from social media sites where predators gain knowledge of their victims’ likes and habits.

Despite these dangers, Big Social Media continues to put profits over the safety of our families. ​​ Facebook hid their research on the negative mental health effects of social media use.  They had knowledge that drug cartels and traffickers had been using these platforms to carry out criminal activity and operations, including murders.   Instead of acting to save lives, Facebook looked the other way.  Snapchat has simply shrugged, as drug dealers openly sell lethal combinations of drugs to children on its platform despite thousands of related child overdose deaths.  This is not OK! 

OFSMS is advocating for new, stronger laws.  In the past few years, they have developed and passed much-needed legislation, to protect our children from dangers like, social media-motivated violence and sexual exploitation.  OFSMS is in schools across the country educating teens and their parents on how to safely use social media.  In partnership with DARE: International, they are poised to educate hundreds of thousands of students this year.   And, OFSMS is working to develop new technology to provide real-time protection against social media-related dangers.  

I have joined this fight, but I need your help to finally make social media safe for everyone. Please consider donating on Giving Tuesday.

Our GivingTuesday fundraising will immediately help us with the following urgent projects to make social media safe for those at highest risk: 

• Continue developing the most innovative social media safety curriculum for students and parents in the country;

• Protect vulnerable foster youth who are at high risk for human trafficking;

• Teach critical social media safety skills at thousands more low-resource schools struggling with cyberbullying, violence, and sexual harassment;

• And, pass legislation in Congress, like Sammy’s Law, a groundbreaking law that will finally give parents the choice to use safety software to protect their children on social media.

As the first and only consumer protection organization exclusively focused on social media, the Organization for Social Media Safety works to make social media safe for everyone.

Serious social media-related dangers continue to grow since the birth of social media in 2006.  The statistics, particularly regarding children, are alarming: 

• Cyberbullying:  About 34% of students report experiencing cyberbullying. (Ten percent of cyberbullied teens attempt suicide.)

• Suicide: In 2020, the average teen spent 9 hours a day online with much of that time on social media. Teens using social media more than 5 hours daily were 70% more likely to have suicidal thoughts than those who reported one hour of daily use. 

• Mental Health: Teenagers who use social media for more than 3 hours daily are more likely to experience mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, aggression, and antisocial behavior.  According to Instagram’s own researchers, “‘We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls’

• Substance Abuse: Teens that use social media regularly are five times as likely to smoke cigarettes, three times as likely to abuse alcohol, and twice as likely to use marijuana. 

• Trafficking and Sex Crimes: Most child sex crimes now originate from social media sites where predators gain knowledge of their victims’ likes and habits.

OFSMS is advocating for new, stronger laws.  In the past few years, they have developed and passed much-needed legislation, to protect our children from dangers like, social media-motivated violence and sexual exploitation.  OFSMS is in schools across the country educating teens and their parents on how to safely use social media.  In partnership with DARE: International, they are poised to educate hundreds of thousands of students this year.   And, OFSMS is working to develop new technology to provide real-time protection against social media-related dangers.  

All fundraising and publicity efforts immediately help us with the following urgent projects to make social media safe for those at highest risk: 

• Continue developing the most innovative social media safety curriculum for students and parents in the country;

• Fund cutting-edge research in partnership with UCLA;

• Protect vulnerable foster youth who are at high risk for human trafficking;

• Teach critical social media safety skills at thousands more low-resource schools struggling with cyberbullying, violence, and sexual harassment;

• And, pass legislation in Congress, like Sammy’s Law, a groundbreaking law that will finally give parents the choice to use safety software to protect their children on social media.