David Crowley
Keeping Wisconsin Families Safe Online
Holding Big Tech accountable for the harm it does to our kids and our elders.
As a girl dad times three, David can relate to what keeps Wisconsin parents up at night. We all want to keep our kids safe, but that is getting harder to do when more of our kids' lives are happening online. Our kids can be exactly where they’re supposed to be—in their bedrooms or at school—but the apps and online platforms accessed through their phones can expose them to unwanted sexual interactions or dangerous content about self-harm, eating disorders, or drugs.
As Governor, David will fight for Wisconsin families and protect kids and seniors online.
The problem:
President Trump and Congressman Tom Tiffany have both backed proposals to protect Big Tech and prevent states from taking steps to hold Big Tech and AI companies accountable.
Meta’s own internal documents show that about 500,000 children in English-language markets are targeted with sexually inappropriate messages per day. These same companies are now pushing AI chatbots into conversations with our kids, with some chatbots explicitly permitted to engage in sexual roleplay with children as young as 13.
It isn't just our kids who bear the brunt of online harm. Wisconsin families lost an estimated $1.2 billion in 2025 to online scams. Older adults are often hit hardest, watching life savings that took decades to build disappear overnight. These new AI-driven scams are highly personalized and predatory, frequently exploiting vulnerable Americans with social media pages or voicemails that look or sound exactly like a loved one. We've spent years telling people how to spot a scam, and the losses keep climbing.
David's plan:
These companies have had every chance to police themselves. As governor, David will make sure Wisconsin protects our kids, our elders, and every family in between.
1. Put the burden on Big Tech, not families
Require platforms to set kids' accounts, and new accounts for everyone, to the highest privacy settings by default, cutting off unsolicited messages from strangers and scammers.
2. End addictive design for kids
Prohibit features like infinite scroll, autoplay, and engagement-maximizing feeds on minors' accounts and ban push notifications to kids overnight and during the school day.
3. Ban surveillance advertising
Ban surveillance advertising to remove the profit incentive for Big Tech to harvest our data, making it harder for bad actors to use tech’s tools to scam vulnerable consumers or exploit kids.
4. Give families the power to sue
Let parents take platforms to court when their design choices or recommendations, including content promoting suicide, eating disorders, or drug sales, harm a child.
5. Set guardrails on AI chatbots
Restrict AI companion apps for children under 13, require clear disclosures on any AI chatbot designed to form emotional bonds with individuals, and prohibit chatbots from posing as doctors, therapists, or other licensed professionals.
6. Crack down on predators and deepfakes
Increase penalties for online predators and sextortion, and close the loophole so that creating or sharing AI-generated sexual images of children carries the same penalties as any other child exploitation offense, building on the protections Wisconsin passed this year.
7. Hold platforms liable for scam ads
Penalize tech companies that knowingly profit from scam ads or let their services be used for scams and fraud.
8. Know your customer rules for digital ads
Require platforms to verify the identity of advertisers before they can target Wisconsinites, and to find and remove fake accounts more aggressively.
9. Make platforms answer to users
Require an easy-to-use scam reporting tool, and require platforms to confirm every report and say what action they took within a set timeframe.
10. Back enforcement with real resources
Aggressively fund DOJ and DATCP efforts to battle online fraud and enforce anti-trust law. Support additional legislation to enhance enforcement powers and restitution as needed.
11. Help victims recover and invest upstream
Invest in county and tribal Adult Protective Services and Aging and Disability Resource Centers, so no one is ashamed to ask for help.