Chicago Tribune: After son’s suicide, Lincoln Park couple push measure for greater scrutiny of social media use

CHICAGO — Rose and Rob Bronstein were blindsided by their 15-year-old son Nate’s suicide in early 2022.  In response, the Bronstein social media legislation aims to address the impact of social platforms on young people.

The Bronsteins say Nate was a funny, athletic and well-liked kid. What they didn’t know, they said, is that in the weeks leading up to his death, other Latin School of Chicago students were harassing Nate on the social media platform Snapchat.

They believe the Bronstein social media legislation, a bill under consideration this spring by Illinois legislators could have saved his life. 

The Let Parents Choose Protection Act also carries the name Sammy’s Law. It honors 16-year-old Sammy Chapman, who died from a fentanyl overdose in his California home last year. He had taken drugs he found advertised on Snapchat. If passed, the bill would prohibit popular social media platforms such as Snapchat from blocking outside safety software. This software detects and notifies parents of potential threats, including substance abuse and suicide. 

Rose Bronstein said in a recent interview that if she knew about such safety software when giving her kids their first phones, “that’s the first thing I would have done.”

“I did not monitor anything,” she said. “He (Nate) liked looking at sports statistics and followed all the fantasy football leagues and stuff. He was always like looking at sports things, but intuitively he was such a good kid, like I didn’t worry. But he fell into this situation, and students attacked him so harshly.”

The Bronsteins are suing the Latin School and current and former board members and staff for wrongful death, alleging Nate notified the school that he felt the messages about him constituted bullying. According to the lawsuit, students sent messages saying “kill yourself” and spread a “death threat involving smoking Nate’s ashes.” A Latin School representative has said the school acted responsibly. The representative called the allegations in the lawsuit “incomplete and misleading.”