Gypsy Rose Blanchard has added the name of her late partner, Ken Urker, to a petition calling for changes in how social media platforms handle cyberbullying.
The petition, “Support Kenan’s Law: Fight Online Harassment,” was launched on Change.org days after Urker’s death. It calls for social media companies to recognize coordinated harassment campaigns as ongoing patterns instead of treating each post as an isolated incident.
The proposal, also referred to as the Online Harassment Reporting and Accountability Act, would require human review once complaints reach a serious threshold, allow appeals with new evidence, and require platforms to preserve evidence and publicly report the outcomes of harassment complaints.
“I only have my daughter and my voice,” wrote Rose on Instagram. “Before his passing, Ken experienced an overwhelming amount of online scrutiny and what we believed crossed the line into targeted harassment and cyberbullying. Reports were made across multiple platforms, and far too often, the response was simply: ‘No violation.’ ”
“Ken’s passing has made me determined to turn pain into purpose,” she continued. “I cannot change what happened, but I can advocate for a better system for the next person who feels like no one is listening.”
A day after his death, Rose took to social media to share her belief that the harassment he faced online had a serious effect on his mental health.
“The cruelty toward him was something no human should have to endure,” she wrote. “I believe the tremendous weight of that scrutiny and harassment had a profound impact on him.”
She also hoped his death would make people think about the impact their words can have on others. “I hope his passing serves as a reminder that there is a real person behind every screen, every headline and every comment,” she wrote.
Urker was found dead at a home in Raceland, Louisiana, on his 34th birthday (Oct. 1), after an emergency call was made at 6:15 p.m.
The pair first met through a prison pen-pal program while Blanchard was serving time for the 2015 murder of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard. They became engaged from October 2018 to August 2019, reconnected in spring 2024, and welcomed their daughter, Aurora, in December 2024.
