Protecting the Next Generation: Confronting Online Exploitation and Reclaiming Digital Safety with Donna Rice Hughes
This week on Next Steps Forward, Dr. Chris Meek sits down with Donna Rice Hughes, President and CEO of Enough Is Enough, for a candid conversation about what’s really happening online and what it’s going to take to protect the next generation. Rather than looking back, this discussion focuses on the urgent challenges facing families right now: the rise of online exploitation, the normalization of extreme content, the mental health impact of social media, gaming risks, and how predators leverage emerging technologies. Donna breaks down how these threats have evolved since the early days of the internet and explains why today’s digital landscape demands a new level of accountability from tech companies, lawmakers, and culture at large.
She also shares what meaningful reform looks like: from bipartisan policy efforts and presidential pledges to practical tools parents, educators, and communities can implement immediately. Drawing from her work developing Internet Safety 101 in partnership with the United States Department of Justice and her experience bringing these issues to national audiences through PBS, Donna outlines a clear framework for prevention, education, and enforcement. This episode goes beyond headlines. It’s a forward-looking conversation about responsibility in the digital age, empowering families without fear, and how collaboration between the public, the tech industry, and the legal system can create lasting change. If you care about online safety, child protection, or the future of digital culture, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.
About Donna Rice Hughes: Donna Rice Hughes, President and CEO of Enough Is Enough® (EIE) is an internationally known Internet safety expert, author, speaker and producer. Her vision, expertise and advocacy helped to birth the Internet safety movement in America at the advent of the digital age. Since 1994, she has been a pioneering leader on the frontlines of U.S. efforts to make the Internet safer for children and families by implementing a three-pronged strategy of the public, the technology industry and legal community sharing the responsibility to protect children online. This strategy has been adopted by industry and governments worldwide. Under her leadership, most recently, EIE created the Internet Safety 101 Program with the U.S. Department Of Justice. She is the Executive Producer, and host of the Internet Safety 101 DVD series which was reformatted into the Internet Safety 101 Television Series for PBS (2013). She received an Emmy nomination as the program’s host.
Hughes also spearheaded EIE’s bi-partisan Children’s Internet Safety Presidential Pledge (2016) which was signed by then Candidate Trump, and supported by Hillary Clinton; the 2024 Children’s Internet Safety Presidential Pledge” to Vice President Harris and President Trump supported by 60 organizations and survivor leaders representing millions of Americans; The Governor’s Pledge led by S.C. Governor McMaster and the State Attorneys General Pledge co-led by AG Wilson (SC) and AG Racine (DC) and signed by 15 AG's thus far. She has given thousands of media interviews on all the major news outlets on topics related to online dangers (porn, CSAM, sexual predation, bullying, trafficking, online gaming, social media, etc), safety solutions, testified numerous times before Congress, and is the winner of numerous awards including the 2013 Women In Technology Award for Social Impact and the 2014 Professional Women in Advocacy Excellence In Advocacy Award for “Veteran Practitioner”. She also received a Senate appointment to serve on the Child Online Protection Act Commission.