Every month, I read news stories about teenagers who were harmed or even died as a result of something that happened to them because they were on social media – whether it was sexual extortion, Fentanyl-laced drugs, or algorithms that pushed eating disorder content.
These are horrific stories. And they will continue to happen because there are not enough safeguards in place on these platforms to protect our children.
Even worse, instead of taking responsibility, the digital and social media platforms have actively lobbied against legislation like the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) that would protect children online. The Wall Street Journal reported that “Meta and Alphabet’s Google unit have poured nearly $90 million over the past three years into lobbying about a range of topics that include the bill, according to federal disclosures.”
Ninety million dollars vs. our children. Our kids don’t stand a chance.
The reality is that Big Tech’s fierce lobbying against KOSA will lead to increased harm for our nation’s children if Congress doesn’t stand up for our kids now. Passing the Kids Online Safety Act cannot wait for another legislative session.
Naturally, Big Tech has spread misinformation to both Democrats and Republicans in the attempt to kill the bill. But KOSA does not censor content, and it ensures that tech platforms have a “duty of care” to protect children. Right now, tech platforms have no incentive and no accountability when it comes to youth.
The harms and risks to our children with using social media are great.
We know that suicide is the second leading cause of death among children and young teens in America. The U.S. surgeon general has warned about the looming mental health crisis facing America’s youth, and new data shows that U.S. suicide rates rose in 2021, and males aged 15 to 24 experienced the sharpest increase.
Recently, yet another study found that more screen time is linked to mental health risks for tweens. Researchers found that the more time kids ages 9-10 spent with screens, the higher the risk for depression, conduct issues and ADHD. In particular, video chat, texting, videos and video games had the highest association with depressive symptoms.
We know that Meta’s (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) internal investigation revealed, “We make body image issues worse for 1 in 3 teen girls” and “Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression.” And, according to Meta’s own internal research, 6 percent of American users and 13 percent of British users traced the desire to kill themselves to Instagram.
We know that staffers warned Meta that its subscription feature enabled child exploitation.
We know that TikTok knew exactly how many videos it takes for a teen to become addicted to their platform (260), and that they knew that teens as young as 15 were being paid by adults to strip on TikTok’s “live” feature.
The bottom line is this: These tech companies know their product is putting children in harm’s way. And they do nothing to mitigate the harm.
That’s why it is so critically important for Congress to pass the Kids Online Safety Act.
The record shows that these social media companies will not stop putting children in harm’s way unless they are forced to. They will continue to exploit children for financial gain.
Across the partisan divide, and in both chambers of Congress, there is consensus that something must be done to keep kids safe from addictive algorithms, predators, pornography, extortion, and exploitation. But now is the time to act.
Congress, please stand up to Big Tech’s lobbying and pass the Kids Online Safety Act.
Melissa Henson is the vice president of the Parents Television and Media Council, a nonpartisan education organization advocating responsible entertainment. On X: @ThePTC