Senator Coons highlights impact of social media on political violence and extremism in joint CBS “Face the Nation” interview with Senator Lankford

WASHINGTON - In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) appeared in a joint interview with James Lankford (R-Okla.) on CBS News' Face the Nation on Sunday with Major Garrett, where he discussed how social media is contributing to increasing extremism and political violence and how Congress should respond.

Following the recent increase in political violence, including the assassination of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, the murders of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman in June, and the attempted murders-by-arson of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and his family in April, Senator Coons stressed his concerns that the internet generally, and social media specifically, are fueling increasing political violence. He urged his colleagues in Congress to pursue bipartisan efforts to establish commonsense guardrails to combat these effects. Senator Coons also emphasized that extreme rhetoric online is putting public servants, judges, and families at risk.

"No matter how much I might deeply disagree with [Kirk's] political views, the idea that he would be killed in such a grotesque and public way has to bring all of us to reflect about how hard it's getting, because the internet is an accelerant," said Senator Coons. "It is driving extremism in our country. It's driving us apart, left and right, and leaders like Senator Lankford, Governor Cox, have an obligation and an opportunity to join with leaders from my party in urging folks to set aside any thought of political violence and to respect each other, even as we keep advancing our political differences through discourse."

Senator Coons called for bipartisan cooperation to strengthen security, protect public life, and advance legislation like the Kids Online Safety Act. He also applauded the recent passage of the bipartisan TAKE IT DOWN Act into law, which criminalizes the publication of non-consensual intimate imagery, including artificially generated images.

"I hope we will invest in securing our public life, because incidents like this tragedy in Utah, like the murder of Melissa and her husband Mark Hortman in Minnesota, frankly, fuel further anger in our country, and the ways in which folks are then taking the horrific images of these incidents and propagating them on the internet, adds fuel to the fire," said Senator Coons.

Watch the full interview here.