{"id":814387,"date":"2024-12-24T01:20:45","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T07:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/24\/parents-states-press-congress-to-act-on-kids-online-safety-bill\/"},"modified":"2024-12-24T01:20:45","modified_gmt":"2024-12-24T07:20:45","slug":"parents-states-press-congress-to-act-on-kids-online-safety-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/24\/parents-states-press-congress-to-act-on-kids-online-safety-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents, states press Congress to act on kids online safety bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Parents whose kids died allegedly because of social media content are pushing lawmakers to require tech companies to alter practices to\u00a0minimize such harms.<\/p>\n

Attorneys general in more than half of U.S. states support the same legislation, saying \u201cmany social media platforms target minors, resulting in a national youth mental health catastrophe.\u201d<\/p>\n

But with few days left in the current session, House leadership hasn\u2019t set a floor vote for a measure approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in September. The bill\u2019s companion in the Senate passed\u00a0on a 91-3 vote in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are trying to get it done,\u201d Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., said in a recent hallway interview in the Capitol. \u201cI\u2019m working like heck to get it done.\u201d\u00a0Bilirakis is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce,\u00a0whose jurisdiction includes data privacy, security and consumer protection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bilirakis said he had spoken with the House Republican leadership, including Speaker Mike Johnson, about bringing the measure to a\u00a0vote. \u201cI haven\u2019t given up at all,\u201d Bilirakis said. \u201cI think we have a shot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Johnson\u2019s office did not respond to questions about the bill.<\/p>\n

Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, one of the lawmakers seeking the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the new Congress, said he had not discussed the bill with Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the committee chair who\u2019s retiring.\u00a0Latta said in a brief interview that he wasn\u2019t aware of whether the schedule will include the bill.<\/p>\n

Social media companies\u2019 aversion to the legislation is no secret. Tech industry trade groups \u2014 including NetChoice, a group that represents top tech platforms including Google LLC, Meta Platforms Inc. and Snap Inc. \u2014 have said that the measure is anti-constitutional because it curbs free speech.<\/p>\n

Snap, however, said the company has been an early supporter of the legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of young people on Snapchat is not only a top priority but is critical to how we think about our platform,\u201d company spokesperson Monique Bellamy said in an email.<\/p>\n

But Meta favors\u00a0requiring app stores to get parents\u2019 consent if kids under 16\u00a0want to download certain social media apps. A spokesman said that\u00a0would be better than the proposals being considered in Congress, even with the House version stripping out some\u00a0Senate bill provisions through a substitute\u00a0amendment by Bilirakis.<\/p>\n

The first provision removed would have required tech companies to exercise a \u201creasonable care in the creation and implementation of any design feature to prevent and mitigate\u201d harms to minors, including mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression, eating disorders, substance use disorders and suicidal behaviors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second provision would have required tech companies to design their products and services to mitigate \u201cpatterns of use that indicate or encourage compulsive usage by minors.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the committee vote, several Democratic lawmakers lamented that Bilirakis\u2019 amendment was released a day before the markup, leaving them without time to propose changes. The amendment\u00a0was approved by a voice vote.<\/p>\n

Pleas from parents<\/h2>\n

Among the parents pushing for passage is a state legislator touched by the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m tired of seeing kids die daily while we have Congress playing politics,\u201d\u00a0said Brandon Guffey, a Republican state representative from South Carolina. \u201cI\u2019m watching money go around. I\u2019m watching misinformation on the kids online safety bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guffey,\u00a0speaking at an event organized last week by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said his 17-year old son Gavin committed suicide in July 2022 after becoming a victim of online sexual extortion on Instagram, a platform owned by Meta. Parents and their lawyers at the event urged Congress to\u00a0protect kids online.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A group of 31 state attorneys general, led by Tennessee\u2019s Jonathan Skrmetti, wrote to the House and Senate leaders on Nov. 18 pressing them to pass the measure.<\/p>\n

Other groups, such as kids safety advocate\u00a0Design It For Us, have pushed House Republicans to beef up the provisions in the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Congress fails to pass KOSA this year, it will jeopardize the lives of more young people,\u201d Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of Design It For Us, said in a text message. \u201cWe can\u2019t wait any longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The measure is about\u00a0\u201cdesign, not content,\u201d said Laura Marquez-Garrett, an attorney at the Social Media Victims Law Center in Seattle. The group represents 3,600 families from all 50 states who have lost a loved one to social media harms, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking at the same event as Guffey, Marquez-Garrett said that\u00a0\u201cthere were changes made and those concerns were resolved,\u201d\u00a0including removing any penalties on platforms for hosting content.<\/p>\n

In the absence of guardrails, when kids search for inspirational quotes online, for example, social media platforms serve up \u201cextreme videos,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A 16-year old boy who searched online for inspirational quotes \u201cafter his first heartbreak got thousands of \u2018no one will ever love you\u2019 and suicide-promoting videos,\u201d and the boy committed suicide, Marquez-Garrett said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Parents whose kids died allegedly because of social media content are pushing lawmakers to require tech companies to alter practices to\u00a0minimize such harms. Attorneys general in more than half of U.S. states support the same legislation, saying \u201cmany social media platforms target minors, resulting in a national youth mental health catastrophe.\u201d But with few days<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":814388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2903,1066],"tags":[10772,9978],"class_list":{"0":"post-814387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-parents","8":"category-states","9":"tag-parents","10":"tag-states"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}