Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Hosts Roundtable on Nation-Leading Proposal to Keep Kids Safe Online

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul hosted a roundtable with parents from Common Sense Media to discuss her nation-leading proposal to protect children and teens online. The Governor’s proposal will help protect kids from predators, scammers and harmful AI chatbots on online platforms. This proposal builds on Governor Hochul’s nation-leading work to enact social media warning labels, restrict addictive feeds, create safeguards against harmful AI companions and restrict smartphones in schools.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr has photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 Thanks for joining us. It’s a really important conversation as always. We've been working together for a long time on how we can protect our children. Those who are moms here know that is what we wake up and think about all day and go to bed thinking — about how we can protect our kids. And it's fascinating how the threats keep evolving.

And every year it seems like since I've been Governor, we've been passing legislation to try to get ahead of where the social media platforms are. Where the predators are, where the people are trying to monetize our kids' mental health, where they all are. So we take our steps and we pass nation-leading laws, and then the next you're like, “Okay now they're doing this, now they're doing this.” I feel like we're playing whack-a-mole, but we'll keep doing it. And I want to thank everybody for participating today. I want to put a spotlight on what is happening to our kids sometimes in the sanity of their own bedrooms when moms think the lights are out and everything's safe and good and healthy.

And what is happening now is just so abhorrent. There's many scary stories and horror stories out there. So what we can do today is get the message out to parents of what they need to be aware of what to look for, but also let them know what a state like New York was going to do to protect them with a mom, who's a Governor, and this is passionate to me. So let's get started.

We have Liz from Common Sense Media and I want to thank you for being an incredible partner on all of our endeavors — building the momentum, getting the education awareness out there and helping us because we'll keep at it, whether it's the cell phone distraction devices and schools ban. I know it didn't make me too popular the first couple months with kids, but I'll tell you, I get more thank yous from doing that than anything I ever thought because kids are now coming alive in school. And they're making sometimes for the first time in their lives a friend, which is sad to think of but now they're getting their childhood back. They’re doing things that we would expect them to do and playing games at lunch and during recess and talking and making eye contact and not being absorbed into this other world — which can be so dark and dangerous.

And the bullying and the anxiety and the depression that is so prevalent. I want to make sure as our kids get older, it's a world which is more like the old fashioned days. I don't want to sound like an old timer here, but we didn't have to worry about that. Even my kids who are millennials did not have to worry about that. And we have little grandkids who I definitely don't want to have their parents worry about this either. So why don't you take it away.