{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.moody.senate.gov/press-releases/video-as-millions-of-florida-students-return-to-school-senator-moody-is-seeking-greater-protection-for-children-from-online-threats/", "VIDEO: As Millions of Florida Students Return to School, Senator Moody is Seeking Greater Protection for Children from Online Threats", "2026-08-10", "2026", "2026-08", "Republican", "Senate", "FL", "Ashley Moody", "M001244", "www.moody.senate.gov", "moody", "https://www.moody.senate.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014As millions of Florida students head back to school, Senator Ashley Moody is fighting to protect children from online threats. Senator Moody is championing the Kids Online Safety Act, legislation that would help guard youth from harm on the internet such as online predators, drug dealers, and addictive algorithms. The Kids Online Safety Act just passed out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and will advance to the full Senate floor.\n\n\u201cAs millions of Florida families get back into the rhythm of a new school year, it is important that we keep our children safe not just at school, but online as well. We are continuing to see risks follow young people into the digital spaces where they spend so much of their time, that\u2019s why I\u2019m fighting to protect our children through the Kids Online Safety Act. This legislation would help guard our youth from online threats like predators and drug dealers,\u201d said Senator Ashley Moody. \u201cTo all of Florida\u2019s students, parents and teachers, I hope you have a safe and successful start to the new school year.\u201d\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nLike millions of Florida families, Senator Moody is preparing to send her son back to school.\n\nThis bill recently passed out of the Senate Commerce committee and is headed for a full Senate vote.\n\nStudies show the correlation between time spent on social media platforms and declining mental health. The Kids Online Safety Act is crucial legislation that protects children from online harm. Key provisions of the bill include:\n\nMandatory default safety settings: Requiring platforms to automatically enable their strongest safety protections for minors rather than burying these features behind opt-in screens;\n\nAddiction prevention: Allowing young users and their parents to disable manipulative design features and algorithmic recommendations that keep children endlessly scrolling; and\n\nParental empowerment: Providing parents with new tools to identify harmful behaviors and improved capabilities to report dangerous content.\n\nLearn more about the bill here.\n\nSenator Moody first called for Congress to pass the legislation as former Florida Attorney General. As Florida\u2019s newest U.S. Senator, Moody is a cosponsor of the legislation.\n\nSenator Moody has long been committed to protecting children online. As the former Florida Attorney General, Senator Moody launched investigations into Meta and Instagram, as well as took legal action, over the platform\u2019s algorithms and practices that sought to addict children to using the service and then profit off the children\u2019s data.\n\nAs Attorney General, Senator Moody also called Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify to the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking about Meta applications allowing traffickers to prey on victims using the platform. Moody also released the Online Safety Toolkit to help parents talk to children about safe internet use and to avoid online predators and traffickers.\n\n# # #", 1, "2026-08-11T05:54:29Z", "2026-08-11T05:56:25Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.moody.senate.gov/press-releases/video-as-millions-of-florida-students-return-to-school-senator-moody-is-seeking-greater-protection-for-children-from-online-threats/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8216740097850561, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}