Social media ban for kids under 13 advances through US Senate committee

U.S. kids under 13 could soon be banned from accessing social media platforms, as an age assurance law makes its way through the Senate. According to Law360.com, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee has advanced the Kids Off Social Media Act (KOSA), which would restrict social media to those over 13 and bar platforms from pushing targeted content to users under 17.

The bill has bipartisan support, as political foes find common ground in noting the negative impacts social media has had on youth. Both Texas Republican Ted Cruz and Hawaii Democrat Brian Schatz are sponsors.

A statement from Schatz says “the growing evidence is clear: social media is making kids more depressed, more anxious, and more suicidal. Yet tech companies refuse to do anything about it because it would hurt their bottom line.” Cruz agrees that “the youth mental health crisis is correlated with the rise of the phone-based childhood.”

In comments to Politico, Schatz notes that “when you’ve got Ted Cruz and myself in agreement on something, you’ve pretty much captured the ideological spectrum of the whole Congress.”

Republicans and Democrats are not the only strange bedfellows in the regulatory debate. There has been predictable pushback from industry against age assurance laws nationally, with lobby group NetChoice blocking legislation in Texas, Arkansas, Utah, Mississippi and Ohio, claiming age assurance requirements violate the constitution.

Also arrayed behind the First Amendment are nonprofit digital rights groups, including the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), New America’s Open Technology Institute, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Fight for the Future. They are among signatories of a letter sent to the leaders of the Commerce Committee arguing that the proposed law would “actively undermine child safety, harm marginalized youth, erode privacy, and impose unconstitutional restrictions on young people’s ability to engage online.”

The coalition particularly objects to curtailing kids’ access to social media platforms in schools that receive federal funding – and the threat to withhold that funding if schools do not comply.

“At a time when books are being banned in schools and curricula are being restricted, ensuring young people can access a broad range of perspectives online – and be able to engage with a broad community – is more critical than ever,” the letter says.

Likewise, it takes issue with the proposed prohibition on social media services using algorithmic recommendation systems from users under 17, which it says is based on  “the flawed assumption that all algorithmic recommendations are harmful” when in fact some of them are “crucial for reducing children’s exposure to harmful content by better enabling youth to control their online experience.”

“Notwithstanding its intentions, KOSMA does not protect kids – it puts them at greater risk.”

One senator sided with the tech firms and rights groups: Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey, who wrote the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), voted no.

Thus, as the legal battle over age assurance progresses, allegiances are shifting as each party looks for optimal leverage. Biometrics providers whose core product is privacy are accused of doing illicit things with user data – by companies whose core product is user data. Social media barons lean on the Constitution to protect their bottom lines, and are backed up by advocacy groups that want to keep the internet freely available for kids that need it.

Meanwhile, at least one social media executive – whose firm, X, is among those NetChoice represents – is currently causing a massive constitutional crisis in the U.S., tied to an ideologically driven effort to make resources and online communities for marginalized youth much harder to access.

In earlier days, one might have noted how meta the whole thing has become.

S. 278 now moves to the full Senate.

Article Topics

age verification  |  children  |  Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)  |  legislation  |  Netchoice  |  social media  |  United States