Nijmeh pledges to protect children online, slams Lofgren’s record on Big Tech

Charlene Concepción Nijmeh is running for Congress in California’s 18th district with a mission to disrupt the longstanding practice of Silicon Valley’s Big Tech corporations profiting from harmful technology products that are marketed to children. Advertisers are willing to pay big dollars to communicate hyper-commercial and often sexually complicated messages to the developing brains of children.

Over the last decade, as these social media technologies have proliferated, rates of bullying, depression, and youth suicide have skyrocketed.

As a mother of five, Nijmeh has made combatting the dangers of the internet a central focus of her campaign. Among other things, she has pledged to introduce legislation that would require all pornography on the internet to be pay-walled, so that it is not readily available to minors. To access it, one would be required to provide a credit card.

Nijmeh is also pledging to hold Big Tech accountable for its role in enabling global sex trafficking.

“When I am elected to Congress, Big Tech will be held responsible for the damage they have done to our youth,” declared Nijmeh. “We are going to hold Big Tech accountable the same way that a previous generation held Big Tobacco accountable to protect our children.”

To achieve this, Nijmeh is drafting legislation that would require social media products and services to seek approval from the FDA or another consumer protection agency that will be tasked with evaluating the potential harms, psychological impacts, and addictive behaviors that are associated with the technology products.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, in her role as Chair of the California delegation of Democrats, hosts weekly meetings of the caucus. Tribal Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh, who is challenging Lofgren in the March 5th primary, has questioned the value of Lofgren’s seniority and so-called experience. “You can have all of the seniority and experience in the world, but if you’re going to sell our children down the river so that your campaign donors can make a buck, then what is that seniority really worth to us?”

Whether through modernizing and expanding the role of the FDA, or setting up another consumer protection agency to deal specifically with technology products, Nijmeh aims to safeguard the social and psychological well-being of minors. Her approach parallels the national campaign against tobacco, where cigarette manufacturers once heavily targeted youth in their marketing and advertising.

Similarly, Nijmeh would ban companies from advertising or marketing social media products directly to minors. Some drafts of Nijmeh’s legislation would require parental consent for minors to download applications to smartphones or to subscribe to software products that would enable them to communicate with adults.

Nijmeh also intends to hold Big Tech accountable for accommodating transactions that enable human trafficking. She plans to leverage artificial intelligence to identify internet content associated with human trafficking.

“The internet is a very dangerous place for our children, but it doesn’t have to be. We just need a Congresswoman who is willing to refuse Big Tech’s corporate campaign contributions so that we can do the work of regulating the industry impartially, with the interests of the American people first and foremost,” she explains.

Nijmeh is disappointed with Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s performance in office. She argues that Lofgren is heavily influenced by the Big Tech giants and does their bidding in Washington with little regard for what is in the best interests of America’s children.

In 2011, Lofgren refused to vote for the Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act, despite being on the floor of the House of Representatives during the vote. Even Nancy Pelosi voted in favor of the law, but Lofgren couldn’t bring herself to vote for it.

In 2017, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act was enacted, but Lofgren refused to vote in favor of it. This law amends the Communications Act of 1934 and enables the prosecution of website owners who post explicit or covert advertisements for prostitution, sexual services, and child exploitation. Violators can face significant fines or up to 25 years in prison.

Thanks in part to this law, the individuals behind the Backpage website, which had been hosting overt and veiled advertisements for sexual services for years, were brought to justice. A Senate report revealed that in 2011, 93% of the site’s revenue came from advertising, with 70 to 80% of those ads being veiled prostitution postings. The website’s administrators simply removed keywords and phrases indicating the nature of the services. The Senate report even listed words such as “Lolita” and “little girl” that confirmed the promotion of sex with minors.

In the past, website activities were regulated solely by the outdated Communications Decency Act, which was established in 1996 and shielded website owners from liability for user-generated content. In 2017, Congress, following extensive debates, granted the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) the authority to protect the confidential data of internet users. These regulations establish consistent oversight of how internet service providers handle personal data, considering it equivalent to medical or social security information. Lofgren voted in favor of legislation to reverse that rule.

Lofgren has represented Silicon Valley in Congress for nearly 30 years and takes more money from the industry than nearly anyone else in Congress. She is now the Ranking Member of the House Science and Technology Committee – making her the industry’s top regulator. That she also serves as the second most senior member of the Judiciary Committee, and the Chair of the Internet Subcommittee, her culpability for the crisis is undeniable.