Kenan’s Law: Hold Social Media Platforms Accountable for How They Handle Online Harassment Reports

My name is Gypsy-Rose Blanchard, and I am asking you to stand with me in supporting Kenan’s Law, a proposed law aimed at changing how major social-media platforms respond when someone repeatedly reports targeted online harassment and cyberbullying.

I am doing this in memory of Kenan Urker the father of my daughter.

Ken recently died following a suspected overdose.  At this time, we do not know whether the overdose was intentional, and I will not speculate about circumstances that have not been determined.

What I can speak about is what happened before his death.

We Reported It. Again and Again.

Ken was a public figure and experienced an enormous amount of public scrutiny.

Across platforms including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Reddit, there was extensive content about him that we believed crossed the line from criticism into targeted harassment and cyberbullying.

Ken made reports.

I made reports.

Videos were reported. Comments were reported. Posts were reported.

And many times, the answer we received was:

“No violation.”

That is the problem I want to change.

Social-media platforms often evaluate individual pieces of content separately. One video gets reviewed. One comment gets reviewed. One post gets reviewed.

But harassment doesn’t always happen in one post.

Sometimes it is dozens, hundreds, or thousands of pieces of content directed toward the same human being over an extended period.

When every report is considered individually, who is looking at the whole picture?

Public Figures Are Still Human Beings

I understand that public figures are subject to criticism.

Kenan’s Law would not prevent people from criticizing public figures.

People have the right to disagree with us. They have the right to dislike us. They have the right to discuss our actions and express opinions we may find hurtful or offensive.

Free speech matters.

But there must also be a distinction between criticism about someone and a sustained pattern of conduct that may violate harassment or safety policies.

Being a public figure does not mean you stop being human.

Public figures read the comments.

They see the videos.

They have children.

They have parents.

They have families.

They experience the consequences of what happens online.

Fame does not erase humanity.

What Is Kenan’s Law?

Kenan’s Law would ask lawmakers to establish stronger procedures for how major social-media platforms handle serious and repeated reports of online harassment.

I am asking lawmakers to consider requirements including:

Pattern-based reporting: Give users the ability to report an ongoing pattern of harassment and submit multiple posts, videos, comments, accounts, or communities together rather than forcing every incident to be evaluated in isolation.

Human review: When repeated reports or serious safety concerns reach an appropriate threshold, allow the case to be escalated to a trained human reviewer rather than relying solely on automated moderation.

Meaningful appeals: When someone receives a “no violation” decision, provide a meaningful way to appeal and submit evidence showing the larger pattern.

Evidence preservation: Require platforms to preserve relevant reports, reported content, moderation decisions, and appeals for an appropriate period when serious repeated harassment has been reported.

Transparency: Require greater public transparency about how platforms handle harassment reports, appeals, human-review escalations, and enforcement.

This Is Not About Censorship

I want to be very clear about this.

Kenan’s Law is not intended to make criticism illegal.

It is not about silencing people who dislike a public figure.

It is not about preventing journalism.

It is not about banning opinions.

It is not about making offensive speech automatically illegal.

And it is not about giving public figures special protection from criticism.

Kenan’s Law is about creating a better process for identifying patterns.

Because one post may not tell the story.

One video may not tell the story.

One comment may not tell the story.

But when someone has repeatedly reported content directed toward them, the system should be capable of asking:

“What is happening to this person across all of these reports?”

Why I’m Doing This

I cannot change what happened to Ken

And I will not claim to know things about the circumstances of his death that have not yet been determined.

But I know what we experienced before his death.

I know what it felt like to report content we believed constituted harassment and repeatedly be told there was “no violation.”

And I know that this problem extends far beyond Ken.

There are people experiencing sustained online targeting right now who may be reporting individual videos, comments and accounts without anyone ever examining what all of those reports look like together.

I want something meaningful to come from what our family has experienced.

I want lawmakers to ask whether our current systems are good enough.

And if they aren’t, I want us to change them.

Please Sign for Kenan’s Law

By signing this petition, you are asking lawmakers to seriously consider Kenan’s Law — the Online Harassment Reporting and Accountability Act and establish stronger procedures for recognizing patterns of reported online harassment while protecting freedom of speech.

This is bigger than one platform.

It is bigger than one public figure.

And it is bigger than my family.

The technology has changed.

Our protections need to change with it.

Public figures are still people.

Fame does not erase humanity.

A pattern cannot always be understood one post at a time.

Please sign and share Kenan’s Law.