Maurine Molak
Bereaved-Parent Campaigners · David's Legacy Foundation, ParentsSOS
Founded David's Legacy Foundation and helped pass Texas's David's Law, one of the first state anti-cyberbullying statutes.
Maurine Molak founded David's Legacy Foundation, an organization focused on preventing cyberbullying among young people. Her advocacy contributed to the passage of Texas's David's Law in 2017, legislation that expanded schools' authority to address off-campus cyberbullying and strengthened related reporting requirements. Molak is also a co-founder of ParentsSOS, a network of parents who organize around online-safety policy at the federal level. Through David's Legacy Foundation, she has continued public-education and advocacy work aimed at strengthening legal protections against cyberbullying for students across the country.
Suicide and self-harm are complex and never caused by one factor alone. Problematic screen use, cyberbullying, harmful content, and online exploitation may increase risk or intensify existing distress. If someone is in immediate danger or emotional crisis in the United States, call or text 988.
WORKS IN THE LIBRARY (10)
STUDIES
Family of 16-Year-Old Boy Who Died of Suicide After Relentless Cyberbullying Speaks Out
This People magazine feature, published almost two years after David Molak's death, is one of the earliest national profiles of the Molak family's advocacy. Reporter Caitlin Keating interviews Maurine Molak and other family members about the online harassment David experienced as a high school sophomore in San Antonio, and about the family's decision to launch David's Legacy Foundation two months after his death. The piece describes the foundation's role in drafting what became David's Law, Texas legislation giving schools authority to address off-campus cyberbullying, and introduces the family's device-pledge sticker campaign. TechKids Foundation cites this profile as an early, widely read account of how one family's loss, which the family associates with sustained online harassment David experienced, became the basis for sustained legislative advocacy.
Texas Senate Bill 179 ("David's Law")
Texas Senate Bill 179, known as David's Law, is the anti-cyberbullying statute that Maurine Molak's advocacy — which followed her son David's 2016 death after a period of online harassment — is widely credited with helping bring about. Passed by the 85th Texas Legislature and signed by the governor on June 9, 2017, the law expanded schools' authority to investigate and respond to off-campus cyberbullying that materially affects the school environment, added parent-notification and anonymous-reporting requirements, and increased criminal penalties for certain harassment of minors. The Texas Legislature's own bill-history record formally tags the statute under the subject heading "DAVID'S LAW." TechKids Foundation includes this record as the direct legislative outcome tied to Molak's advocacy, separate from any claim about what caused her son's death.
Meet Maurine Molak | Co-Founder David's Legacy Foundation
This Shoutout DFW interview profile lets Maurine Molak describe, in her own words, why she and her family founded David's Legacy Foundation after her teenage son's 2016 death, which followed a period of online harassment. Molak explains the foundation's three focus areas: education programs for schools and families, legislative advocacy that produced Texas's David's Law, and free legal assistance for families dealing with cyberbullying cases. She emphasizes peer-to-peer prevention, describing students as central to changing school culture around bullying, and describes ongoing partnerships with legislators, educators, and mental health providers. TechKids Foundation cites this piece as a first-person account of the foundation's operating philosophy, published independently of any legislative or news-cycle hook.
San Antonio's David's Legacy Foundation Fights Cyberbullying Nationwide
This Community Impact Newspaper feature describes David's Legacy Foundation's expansion beyond Texas after Maurine Molak co-founded the nonprofit following her son David's 2016 death, which the article attributes to cyberbullying he experienced. Reporter Samara Penny covers the organization's push for the federal Kids Online Safety Act, quoting Molak's argument that platforms should set their strongest safety settings as defaults for minors rather than leaving them optional. The piece also recaps David's Law, the 2017 Texas statute the foundation is credited with helping pass, and describes the organization's continuing school-based education programming. TechKids Foundation cites this article as a regional outlet's independent account of the foundation's national policy advocacy.
Texas Mother on a Mission to End Cyberbullying
This Spectrum News 1 profile revisits Maurine Molak's founding of David's Legacy Foundation after her teenage son David's 2016 death, which the report links to cyberbullying he experienced at school. Reporter Amber Hughes describes Molak's continued advocacy roughly eight years later, including her role in passing Texas's David's Law in 2017 and her ongoing push for the federal Kids Online Safety Act. Molak is quoted describing cyberbullying as a community-wide problem requiring cooperation among schools, families, and platforms rather than something any one group can solve alone. TechKids Foundation cites this piece as evidence of sustained, multi-year advocacy tied to a documented legislative track record rather than a single news cycle.
Commentary: The Kids Online Safety Act Would Have Saved My Son's Life
In this signed commentary for the San Antonio Express-News, Maurine Molak argues for House passage of the federal Kids Online Safety Act, writing in the wake of a 91-3 Senate vote in favor of the bill. Molak, whose son David died in 2016 after experiencing online harassment, contends the legislation would require platforms to build safer default settings for minors and would hold companies accountable for design choices she characterizes as prioritizing engagement over child safety. She directly addresses free-speech objections, arguing the bill as she describes it preserves minors' ability to deliberately seek out information while targeting platform design rather than content. TechKids Foundation cites this as Molak's own statement of her policy position, published in a regional paper of record rather than paraphrased by a reporter.
Nearly 9 Years Since Her Son's Suicide, Maurine Molak Makes One Last Pitch for Online Safety Bill
Published nearly nine years after her son David's 2016 death, this San Antonio Report profile by Tracy Idell Hamilton follows Maurine Molak on what the piece describes as her fourteenth advocacy trip to Washington, D.C., seeking House passage of the Kids Online Safety Act after the bill's earlier Senate passage. The article recounts Molak's earlier role in passing Texas's David's Law in 2017 and describes her continued meetings with congressional offices amid opposition to the bill from the sitting House Speaker. It frames Molak's advocacy as sustained over the better part of a decade, and associates her son's death with cyberbullying he experienced rather than attributing it to a single cause. TechKids Foundation cites this as a detailed, independently reported account of long-running federal advocacy tied to a named legislative vehicle.
KiDS Campaign Applauds Texas HB 499 to Require Social Media Warning Labels
This news post from the KiDS: Keep It Digitally Safe campaign covers the group's endorsement of Texas House Bill 499, which would have required social media platforms to display warning labels about risks including excessive use, cyberbullying, and online exploitation for minors, modeled on tobacco and alcohol warning requirements. The piece quotes Maurine Molak, identified as co-founder of David's Legacy Foundation, urging swift action so that, in her words, "not another day" passes with children exposed to these platform harms. TechKids Foundation cites this campaign post as a documented instance of Molak's advocacy network publicly backing a specific piece of state legislation, distinct from any independent research finding about the bill's likely effects.
Keep It Digitally Safe Campaign Inspires State Legislation to Keep Kids Safer on Social Media
This ABC13 Houston (KTRK-TV) news report by Briana Conner follows Maurine Molak to Austin as she met with Texas state legislators to support House Bill 499's proposed social-media warning-label requirement. The report recaps Molak's founding of David's Legacy Foundation after her son David's death by suicide nine years earlier, which the article associates with cyberbullying he experienced, and describes the foundation's pro bono legal assistance to what the report says are hundreds of families a year dealing with cyberbullying cases. TechKids Foundation cites this as a 2025 example of Molak's advocacy extending from federal to state-level legislation; the report describes in-person meetings with lawmakers rather than sworn committee testimony, and this entry does not claim otherwise.