Democratic Sen. John Fetterman said he no longer actively engages on social media, and called out Bluesky — a microblogging platform that many left-wing X users migrated to after Donald Trump was reelected — for condoning death threats against him.
At Semafor’s Solving the Youth Wellbeing Challenge event in DC on Wednesday, Fetterman and his Republican colleague Sen. Katie Britt urged Congress to pass legislation barring children under the age of 13 from using social media. The two senators have already proposed a mental health warning label requirement for social media platforms.
“I’m actually not on social media at all,” Fetterman said, suggesting that while he was involved in creating his own content, his team posted it on his behalf. He added that he and his family had been personally affected by online platforms.
The Pennsylvania senator said that his social media team singled out Bluesky as a more verbally abusive environment for him: “If you’re wishing for someone dying ... remember, children are connected to that same matrix.”
Britt, of Alabama, said that tech companies should be prohibited from using algorithms to direct certain types of content to young people between the ages of 13 and 17, citing statistics showing the prevalence of suicidal ideation among teenagers and young women, in particular.
“The longer you stay on a post, the more money they make” and “the more depressing the content” that is being viewed, Britt said.
Britt, who has collaborated on successful legislation with Fetterman, with whom she has a real outside-of-work friendship, demurred when asked whether she had considered lobbying him to switch to the Republican Party.
“John is an independent thinker,” Britt said. “You have someone that is calling balls and strikes, and that should absolutely be celebrated.”
“I’m a Democrat,” Fetterman responded. “I’ll agree on some things and I’ll disagree on other things.”