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If you are a parent, you know that social media can cause problems for your children. You may not realize how serious the problem is.
Social media apps are no innocent place for kids to share funny cat videos with their friends. These are sophisticated data collection and marketing platforms that use personalized algorithms to addict users, including children.
These apps use children’s personal data to target harmful media, including sexually explicit material and content that can drive children and teens, especially young girls, to anorexia and suicide. It has the ability to pour into individuals without mercy. And just this week, the Surgeon General issued a recommendation that social media “may pose serious harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.”
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And social media companies are not serious about protecting children from this content. Even though they are younger, more attention on screen means more money for them.
These apps claim they do not allow children under the age of 13 on their platform, which is a lie. Big tech companies have deliberately weak honor systems, requiring young children only to click a box that says “13+”. Teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18, on the other hand, have virtually no protection.
Kids aren’t safe or healthy online because tech companies aren’t trying to keep them safe and healthy. Social media companies don’t care about your age or what you do on the platform, as long as you can monetize it.
We believe that parents should have the power to fight back and protect their children online just as they do in the real world. That’s why we introduced the bipartisan Protect Kids on Social Media Act. The law requires parental consent for youths under the age of 18 to use social media and completely bans social media for children under the age of 13.
The bill would also ban social media companies from using personalized algorithms to promote content to underage users, algorithms that send users down “rabbit holes” for harmful content.
Of course, big tech companies don’t like our bill. In fact, they are working overtime to crush it with an alliance attack by lobbyists and think tanks for paychecks.
Opponents argue that our bill would require social media companies to verify the age and parentage of users, creating a new database of information.
It’s a luxury. Social media companies already have a large amount of personal information about your child, such as your child’s name, email address, date of birth, phone number, search history, location while logged in, who your friends are, what you say to your friends, etc. We are collecting information. Likes and dislikes, what ads you watch, what you buy, who your family is, where you go to school. The real threat to children’s privacy is social media companies, not age verification.
Opponents also claim it’s impossible to verify age online, so we might as well not try. That’s a lie too. Online age checks are done daily for things like gambling, tobacco purchases, and other vices you want to protect your children from.
The bill would also ban social media companies from using personalized algorithms to promote content to underage users, algorithms that send users down “rabbit holes” for harmful content.
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The government already has information, such as the Social Security Administration, that proves the child’s age and relationship to you. We just ask social media companies to verify that when users sign up.
Third-party companies like IDME are already verifying the age of government agencies not only at the federal level, but also at the local and state levels in politically diverse states such as Wyoming and California.
Parents are standing up for their children in front of the school board and on the playground like never before. The same should be true for the Internet. What children see and learn online can be as harmful, if not more, than what they are taught in the classroom.
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Reaffirming parental control over what is taught in schools will be no consolation if the social media problem is also unsolvable.
Child protection laws on social media make parents, not social media companies, responsible for what apps their children can use. And when parents regain control, their children will be safer and happier. We will continue to fight to enact this law for your children and us.
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Katie Britt represents the State of Alabama in the U.S. Senate and serves on the Appropriations, Banking, Housing, Urban Development, and Rules and Administration Commissions.