
Social Media Killed Her Daughter. Now She’s Fighting Big Tech.
By Movieguide® Contributor
Becca Schmill “was a beautiful, caring person whose smile lit up every room.”
“She had hopes and dreams of her own, but before she was able to begin her first year at the University of Richmond, Becca died after she ingested fentanyl-laced drugs at the age of 18,” Becca’s mom, Deb Schmill, shared on USA Today on Aug. 13.
Becca would be 23 this year.
“Like many young people at the time, Becca got her first smartphone in middle school. Three years before her death, she was added to an online party chat where she was introduced to a group of 18-year-old boys — one of whom later raped her,” Schmill shared. “She was 15.”
“As she attempted to heal from this trauma, the process was undermined by a humiliating cyberbullying incident. The shame and anguish the assault caused — compounded by the cruelty of a few peers on multiple social media platforms — created a hole inside her heart that Becca tried to fill by self-medicating,” she explained. “Becca had a loving family and the support of counselors, but social media made it possible for her to find illicit drugs whenever she felt the desire to escape from the pain she felt inside.”
Schmill wrote in a Boston Globe article, “All of the support from family members, friends, her school counselor, and therapists could not compete with a couple of swipes on her iPhone to access drugs.”
Becca’s story, tragically, is not entirely uncommon. Her experience with the dangerous side of social media is experienced by millions of kids every day.
“What’s frightening is that when a child experiences online harm, it is often because social media is working exactly as designed,” Schmill said. “Platforms like Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook use powerful algorithms designed to maximize time spent on their apps. They reward despair and outrage and target the most vulnerable among us.”
In April, Movieguide® reported on the outbreak of kids’ deaths caused by social media dangers:
From across the country advocacy to bills and documentaries, families are desperate for a change.
“Jaime Puerta’s 16-year-old son Daniel died four years ago after taking a counterfeit oxycodone pill made with pure fentanyl, the illicit opioid drug, that he purchased from a dealer he found on Snapchat. In 2022, Puerta sued Snapchat in a wrongful death lawsuit. At the time, his lawsuit was one of the first to accuse social media of posing a danger to children’s health,” CNN reported April 13.
“Now there are hundreds of such lawsuits against social media platforms, alleging teenagers across the country have been harmed from exposure to social media, according to Matthew Bergman, the founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center, from where many of these lawsuits have been filed,” CNN said. “In some of the cases, families allege their children used social media to buy drugs; in other cases, parents say their teens saw dangerous content and harmed themselves. There is a range of harms and heartbreak alleged in the filings.”
Schmill argues that adolescents are at critical stages of development. They are not mature. It’s extremely difficult for parents to be fully aware of what may be happening or to intervene.
“Social media hijacks their brains…The apps can turn happy lives into nightmares,” the grieving mother said.
“When I tried bringing my concerns to the social media platforms, I quickly learned they were not interested in making their products safe for kids. Their primary interest was, and is, to increase engagement so they increase their profits,” she said.
Per social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt, social media is the key reason for youth’s mental illnesses today.
“Depression and anxiety for young people are rising: 1 in 3 teenage girls have reported seriously considering suicide in the past year,” Schmill said. “In addition to the mental health concerns, rates of sextortion and drug sales online are skyrocketing. The U.S. surgeon general has rightfully called for warning labels to be put on social media apps, but a lot more needs to be done.”
“Big Tech companies choose to put profits first, despite their own internal research showing that their design features are causing harm to children,” she said. “This is why legislation like the Kids Online Safety Act — which requires tech companies to prioritize kids’ safety in design decisions and enable the strongest safety settings by default — is so important. The bill is a crucial first step.”
Schmill believes that the best way to protect kids is to go “beyond legislation.” The internet and social media should transform to “empower,” not “harm.”
“What’s needed is a new way forward that creates a better digital experience for everyone — especially kids,” she said.
“Today, more than 170 million Americans use TikTok, and a significant percentage of TikTok users are under the age of 15.”
“Behind YouTube, it is the most popular platform for young people. This year, Congress passed a law giving Chinese parent company ByteDance up to a year to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations or face a ban. What happens next will affect every parent and child in this country,” Schmill said.
This is why Schmill stands behind Project Liberty’s “People’s Bid for TikTok” and thinks others who have children’s best interests in mind should do likewise.
“The truth is, most kids are on TikTok, and the same problems we find on other apps — cyberbullying, addiction, toxic algorithms — are exciting on that platform. Under Project Liberty’s vision, led by founder Frank McCourt, TikTok would be retooled without its algorithm, addressing many of the harms of social media at their source,” she said.
“Project Liberty’s plan would also give people control over their data. The platform would be designed for a safer, healthier online experience. And it would finally give people — who the apps call ‘users’ — a voice in our digital future. The People’s Bid for TikTok, in other words, would create the blueprint for a digital world where people are in charge,” the mother said.
Schmill encourages parents to advocate for children everywhere.
“Have conversations while waiting in line at school pickup, in PTA meetings, on the sidelines of soccer games, and at the kitchen table with your family,” she says.
“As we head into a new school year and you’re considering ways to protect your child, ask yourself: ‘Are they safe online?’ and ‘Is their relationship with social media healthy?’ Keep an open dialogue with your child and let them know that it is OK to talk to you about what they’re seeing on social media — and tell others about how the ‘People’s Bid’ would make TikTok safer and healthier for kids.”
If the internet and social media were created with children’s protection in mind, Becca might have survived.
“I miss Becca every minute of every day and don’t want any other family to go through what ours has. As a parent and as an American, I am fighting for the right to take back control of our online world. I encourage all parents to join me,” she finished.
After Becca’s death, Schmill founded the Becca Schmill Foundation in her honor. The foundation advocates for children’s safe internet and social media use, engages with communities and funds research to promote a better digital future.