For Erin Popolo the fight to end cyberbullying is personal. Her daughter Emily died by suicide in 2021 at the age of 16, after relentless bullying from peers who took to social media to target her.
Popolo now spends her time meeting with elected leaders, traveling to Washington, D.C., and advocating for children like Emily to prevent them from the same online harms. Popolo, a South Brunswick resident, is working alongside other parents in urging Congress to pass the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA. Advocates say it would give families the tools and safeguards they need to protect against threats to kids’ health and well-being online.
“The parents that I travel to D.C. with we all have lost a child to something related to social media,” said Popolo. “Emily was cyberbullied. I know parents who, their children have died by taking a social media challenge. Or, you know, picking up drugs that were laced with fentanyl through Snapchat or Instagram.”
Popolo says the parents are united in their mission.
“Social media is not going anywhere, but we need to make it safer for these kids to navigate because right now it is a free for all. And, you know, they just cannot navigate it by themselves. We really want the community, the social media companies to be a little bit more responsible for what’s being put up on their platforms.”
The fight for other children has helped Popolo work through her grief.
“It helps channel my grief into something productive,” said Popolo. “At the beginning after Emily died, I was a big advocate for her to begin with because she was a special education student. So, my advocacy was part of my identity. When Emily died, I kind of lost that whole part of my identity. And I needed something to channel my grief because it was like you literally, your life gets shattered.”
“It’s not about red or blue. It is about the kids,” she said. “Nothing political here is at play. This is about keeping our children safe. I already paid the ultimate price for putting my child on social media. I don’t want anyone else to have to walk this path because it’s terrible.”
