{"id":640957,"date":"2023-04-24T10:05:42","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T15:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/24\/why-child-safety-bills-are-popping-up-all-over-the-us\/"},"modified":"2023-04-24T10:05:42","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T15:05:42","slug":"why-child-safety-bills-are-popping-up-all-over-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/24\/why-child-safety-bills-are-popping-up-all-over-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Why child safety bills are popping up all over the US"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bills ostensibly aimed at making the internet safer for children and teens have been popping up all over the United States recently. Dozens of bills in states including Utah, Arkansas, Texas, Maryland, Connecticut, and New York have been introduced<\/a> in the last few months. They are at least partly a response to concerns, especially among parents, over the potentially negative impact of social media on kids\u2019 mental health.<\/p>\n

However, the content of these bills varies drastically from state to state. While some aim to protect privacy, others risk eroding it. Some could have a chilling effect on free speech online. There\u2019s a decent chance that many of the measures will face legal challenges, and some aren\u2019t necessarily even enforceable. And altogether, these bills will further fragment an already highly fractured regulatory landscape across the US.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The situation is very messy and complex. But below the surface, there are some important arguments that will shape how tech is regulated in the US. Let me walk you through three of the most important debates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, most of the bills deal with children\u2019s rights to privacy online. <\/strong>However, while some seek to increase privacy protections, others eat away at them. <\/strong>And even when these bills are well-meaning, that doesn\u2019t mean that they\u2019re currently workable. California\u2019s Age Appropriate Design Code, passed last August and due to come into force in July 2024, seeks to limit the collection of data<\/a> from users under 18. It also tasks social media companies with assessing how they use kids\u2019 personal data in content recommendation systems. The law requires websites to estimate users\u2019 ages<\/a>, which, though complex, is something that many platforms already do for advertising purposes. Social media companies do oppose the law and have already sued the state of California to challenge it for a variety of reasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Utah and Arkansas laws, on the other hand, require that social media companies actually confirm the age of all users<\/a>, which involves creating completely new verification techniques and raises questions about privacy. Both laws have passed, but social media companies and privacy advocates are fighting back against them. They say the laws are unconstitutional, and it\u2019s likely that this battle will end up in court. The Utah law further requires social media platforms to provide features for a parent or guardian to access the accounts and private messages of users under 18 years old.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Secondly, the bills are sparking a debate around parental oversight.<\/strong> The Utah and Arkansas bills require under-18s to get parental consent before creating social media accounts.\u00a0 The Utah law goes even further, requiring parents to give their consent for children to access social media from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m., though it\u2019s unclear how the law will be enforced<\/a> when it is enacted in March of 2024. Research has shown that kids are able to easily get around<\/a> existing age requirements online. And the extent of parental oversight ranges by state and age. A proposed Connecticut bill, for example, would force kids under 16 to get their parents\u2019 consent to create a social media account.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

And lastly, the bills have major ramifications for young people\u2019s speech rights and access to information<\/strong>. Some states impose explicit restrictions: in Texas, for example, one proposed child safety bill attempts to prohibit minors from accessing information that could lead to eating disorders. What exactly that sort of information may be remains unclear<\/a>. But in most other states, the restrictions are even more vague, which could push social media companies to remove content out of concern for being sued, says Samir Jain, the vice president of policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a think tank based in Washington, DC. In other words, these laws could have a chilling effect on what people say and do online.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Many of these bills are already being challenged by Big Tech lobbyists, activists, and other groups. They will argue that enforcement is extremely onerous, and in some cases even technically impossible. For example, all this legislation depends on verifying the ages of users online, which is hugely difficult and presents new privacy risks. Do we really want to provide driver\u2019s license information to Meta, for example?<\/p>\n

The laws also expose the lack of federal protections for everyone\u2019s security, privacy, and freedoms online, regardless of age, says Bailey Sanchez, policy counsel at the Future of Privacy Forum, another DC-based think tank. (Current federal laws prohibit websites from collecting data on users under the age of 13.)<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeday that 17-year-old is going to turn 18, and unless they\u2019re in a handful of states, there is no privacy law that applies to them,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What I am reading this week<\/strong><\/h3>\n