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The lack of Walker Montgomery has led to laws including protections for minors in opposition to on-line predators.
Each the Walker Montgomery Defending Youngsters On-line Act and Walker’s Regulation had been adopted within the Mississippi Home and Senate on Wednesday. The payments now head to the Governor for his closing stamp of approval.
The Walker Montgomery Defending Youngsters On-line Act requires social media platforms to make cheap efforts to stop or mitigate kids’s publicity to doubtlessly dangerous content material whereas utilizing the platforms.
“The reality is that even essentially the most diligent of fogeys can use assist defending their kids on-line, and it’s time that these platforms begin prioritizing our kids’s security,” stated State Consultant Jill Ford (R), the invoice’s writer.
The ultimate convention report eliminated the unique reverse repealer and offered that digital service suppliers who provide profession growth alternatives are usually not topic to the provisions. Rep. Ford stated the language was modified to reflect Texas regulation and the Children On-line Security Act.
When presenting the invoice on Wednesday, Ford instructed Home members it was time to carry social media firms accountable.
“It’s time we present the social media firms we’re bored with sitting on the sidelines of the wild wild west of platforms we’ve got as we speak,” stated Rep. Ford.
A number of days prior, Walker’s Regulation (HB 1196), authored by State Consultant Rob Roberson (R), was additionally despatched to the Governor. The invoice would create the offense of sexual extortion and aggravated sexual extortion, usually termed “sextortion.”
Lawyer Common Lynn Fitch (R) has proven assist for the passage of the measure as effectively, saying it can permit regulation enforcement to go after these perpetrators extra successfully. The creation of the offense was wanted for prosecution efforts associated to minors who fall sufferer.
“I’m so grateful to the Legislature for passing these two payments – one giving us the instruments to prosecute felony sextortion and one giving us extra instruments to guard kids’s security and wellbeing on-line,” stated Lawyer Common Fitch. “What an exquisite method to honor the life and lack of Walker Montgomery. I’m grateful to Walker’s household for his or her tireless advocacy to make sure no different dad and mom need to undergo the tragedy they endured.”
The payments, named after Walker Montgomery, are in response to the tragic dying of the 16-year-old after somebody he met on-line requested for cash. When Montgomery stated no, the net predator threatened to launch a sexually express video of him to folks he knew. After continued strain by the predator, Montgomery took his personal life in 2022.
The investigation that adopted revealed that different teenagers within the Starkville space, the place Montgomery lived, had been focused. The FBI turned concerned within the investigation, and it was revealed that the people preying on the kids had been abroad.
“I’m so proud that Walker can have a legacy that his household may be happy with. I’m so completely satisfied to be a small a part of serving to this invoice get handed and I hope we’re capable of assist defend kids sooner or later,” stated Rep. Roberson on the passage of the invoice.
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