Governor Sanders Announces Plan to Empower Parents to Sue Big Tech for Role in Teen Mental Health Crisis

This story is about suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Friday that she will address her state’s share of the national youth mental health crisis, planning to give parents the power to sue Big Tech companies and “hold bad actors accountable.”

Sanders will also address the issue at the World Economic Forum next week in Davos, Switzerland. She will join Author of “The Anxious Generation” Jonathan Haidt to discuss the role of smartphones and social media in causing harm to young Americans.

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Sarah Huckabee Sanders (AFP Getty)

At Davos, Sanders will also join Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear for a bipartisan session discussing state priorities and the role of state governments in a presidential transition — as President Biden gives way to President-elect Trump.

Regarding the issue of Big Tech, Sanders told Fox News Digital that protecting children is a top priority for his administration.

“In the last decade, across America, anxiety, depression and suicide among teenagers have skyrocketed, and the culprit is clear: unrestricted access to phones and social media,” he said.

“Under my guidance, Arkansas will act to empower parents and protect children.”

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“I look forward to … Davos to talk about this critical issue and how my administration is stepping up to hold Big Tech accountable.”

As for addressing Big Tech’s alleged role in exacerbating the national youth mental health crisis, Sanders noted that he previously launched a cell phone-free school pilot program in 2024. The program offers schools funding state for pocket phones to prevent use during school. day.

Sanders, whose father, Mike Huckabee, previously served as governor of Arkansas, said he plans to update the state’s Social Media Security Act as well.

As for holding Big Tech accountable in the mental health crisis, Sanders said that “modern threats … require modern solutions.”

“Nowhere is this truer than with our children,” he said in his State of the Union address.

“In the past decade, across America, teen suicide rates have tripled, self-harm among girls has increased by nearly 200%, and depression among teens has increased by 150 %. The culprit is clear: unrestricted access to phones and social media.

He had invited a mother from Centerton, Ark., whose 16-year-old son took his own life after going from an active, sports-loving teenager to one who spent more and more time watching social media videos on to his phone.

Social media apps are seen on the iPhone screen. (Getty)

The boy’s mother tried to take out his phone, and retreated to his room, where in 13 minutes he had already taken his own life.

“Months later, overcome with grief,” Sanders said, “(the boy’s mother) decided to go through (her) phone. She came across his TikTok, and what she saw shocked her : video after video that gives step-by-step instructions on how to take your life.”

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“We’re going to give mothers like (her) the right to sue Big Tech companies under state law, so they can enforce bad actors.”

In a recent New Yorker interviewHaidt – the author who appears with Sanders at Davos – expressed shock at the difference between the generation “You sit too close to the television, your eyes burn” and the new generation that was warned about the fish of social media.

“The technology environment in the 90s was miraculous. We loved it. The millennial generation grew up on it. Their mental health was great. . . . And then in 2012 and 2013: Boom. The charts go up way, mentally. health falls off a cliff is incredibly sudden,” said Haidt.