Maggie Freeling (49:15)
A couple weeks after Bianca's death, we started tracking how many times these messages were being sent to us, how many, like, we literally had Excel spreadsheets. And we were tracking where they were, you know, where they were being uploaded to, who they were being sent to, how long it was taking for them to be taken down, you know, if they were being reported, what was the outcome of the report, the response. And so we contacted our local congressman. This is just something that really rocked our community. And he had brought up, you know, we went to him for help because we could not get a hold of anyone at Instagram or Facebook. And they were the main social media platforms that were allowing these pictures to be shared. I know that within, like, the first week, Instagram told the Utica Police Department, like, we just can't do anything. It's. We're just being flooded with the pictures. It's being shared too often. We just can't stop it. They just really overstated what they did, what they were going to do, you know, to prevent the pictures from being spread. They never really followed through with anything, you know, and they just, they kind of always said, well, you know, our technology, it can't, you know, catch everything. So now you have this congressman on board. Yes. So what does he get started? He introduced a bill for a federal Bianca's Law. And tell us what Bianca's Law is. So it's changed over time. One of her legislative writers actually wrote up, drafted a really, really good, in depth version of a federal Bianca's Law that would, you know, have carve outs to repeal section 230 so that these companies would be held liable if these companies are aware of an offending picture that goes against their guidelines. And it would be, you know, as defined in this bill, they are then liable for making sure that it's not shared on their platform. It would also create a parent's bill of rights. And this basically would force the companies to set up a centralized crisis center. Like I said, when this happened to us and these pictures were spreading and going viral, I was very lucky that I had a personal connection to someone in power. Most people don't have that. And these companies really do need to have a designated crisis center that. So that you can speak to someone outside of the in app, reporting that you're just reporting to a computer. And it would not only apply to graphic photos, you know, child pornography, child grooming, things like that. And then it would also make it a crime, and there would be some, you know, civil liability for people that are sharing these photos. So on the federal level, what happened? Nothing. It got dropped, unfortunately. When Biden was in office, he had task force dealing with social media regulation. He had social media task force. It was a part of his violence against women task force. And I've had several conversations. We've all seen that. You know, the social media hearings in Congress, now that Trump's taken over, unfortunately, that has all kind of gone away. Even Instagram and Facebook, they've repealed a lot of their community guidelines and regulations. So, you know, we've really taken a lot of steps backwards. We did pass a New York State law, which is. It's very limiting because it only applies to New York state. So basically, if that something's being shared within New York State, and that is called Bianca and Caroline law, that makes it a crime to share crime scene photos, any kind of graphic crime scene photos with the intent to harm. So that, I mean, that's always. That's very encouraging. But it's also. It's just very limited because it's just a state law. I mean, ideally, we need international regulation. And that's where I really felt like we had some justice. Like, okay, we're doing something. We are, because that's automatically. Like, when this happened, I just went into Mama Bear moan like, okay, we're not gonna have her more exploited in her death. Like, I still have to protect my daughter. And by working on laws so that other people don't have to go through. What we went through and we are still going through was where I found some justice. And I felt like we were, you know, actually doing something for Bianca. It's definitely something I will always advocate for. And it's hard to see the harassment online. It is hard to See people saying negative things and just really vile things about your daughter. You know, my mom always used to tell me, like, consider the source. You know, do we really care what these incels in, like, the basements are, you know, with no life are saying? Right. Like, definitely with the Internet. I've seen the worst parts of the Internet, but the best parts of the Internet and the people telling me how much my daughter helped them even in her death, like, the message that she's in her spirit and how much, like, hope people are getting from her story and from, you know, seeing things that she's written, her videos, that definitely outweighs the bad. And that in our, like, darkest, worst times, that is definitely what helps carry us through. And my biggest piece of advice is to just watch your kids and know what they're doing. Bianca and I were very close. I monitored both my children's social media. So I. I'm not going to say I would never say that. I always knew exactly what she was doing. She was 17. Like, she knew how to hide things exactly everything she was doing in the Internet. But I was pretty knowledgeable about the Internet, the different websites, the different apps, what was going on. And I think that that's like the biggest message with your kids is just, the Internet can be a great place, but it also can be very dangerous. So it's very, very easy to get indoctrinated in these dark, evil websites. And, you know, these intel websites, they're just. Yeah, it's stuff that you can't even imagine that, like, that people are talking about and like the theories they come up with in the ideals that they have and the messages they're spreading, it alters your brain just as like someone that you would think, right. Is like your average normal person. Just. You can't tell me that, like, reading that doesn't alter your brain at some point. And if you are reading it enough and then you start, like, connecting with that.
