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Citing a Mental Health Crisis Among Young People, California Lawmakers Target Social Media - KFF Health News
Legislators are considering two bills that address online addiction among children by taking aim at website features such as push notifications and targeted posts. But Big Tech is fighting the effort, saying companies are already taking steps to protect children.
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Some California lawmakers want to help Garcia and other parents protect their children’s mental health by targeting website elements they say were designed to hook kids — such as personalized posts that grab and hold viewers on a specific page, frequent push notifications that pull users back to their devices, and autoplay functions that provide a continuous stream of video content.
Two complementary bills in the state legislature would require websites, social media platforms, or online products that children use — or could use — to eliminate features that can addict them, harvest their personal information, and promote harmful content. Those that don’t comply could face lawsuits and hefty fines. One of the measures would impose penalties of up to $7,500 per affected child in California — which could amount to millions of dollars.
Federal lawmakers are making a similar push with bills that would tighten children’s privacy protections and target features that foster addiction. One would require online platforms to provide tools to help parents track and control their children’s internet use. The measures were approved by a U.S. Senate committee July 27.
Modeled after a law passed in the United Kingdom, the measure also says companies should “consider the best interests of children when designing, developing, and providing that service, product, or feature.” That broad phrasing could allow prosecutors to target companies for features that are detrimental to children. This could include incessant notifications that demand children’s attention or suggestion pages based on a child’s activity history that could lead to harmful content. If the state attorney general determines a company has violated the law, it could face a fine of up to $7,500 per affected child in California.
The other California bill, AB 2408, would allow prosecutors to sue social media companies that knowingly addict minors, which could result in fines of up to $250,000 per violation. The original version would also have allowed parents to sue social media companies, but lawmakers removed that provision in June in the face of opposition from Big Tech.
Together, the two California proposals attempt to impose some order on the largely unregulated landscape of the internet. If successful, they could improve kids’ health and safety, said Dr. Jenny Radesky, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, a group that supports the data protection bill.
Meta and Snap declined to say whether they support or oppose the California bills. YouTube and TikTok did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Privacy groups are raising red flags about the measures.
Eric Null, director of the privacy and data project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said the provision in the data protection bill that requires privacy agreements to be written in age-appropriate language would be nearly impossible to implement. “How do you write a privacy policy for a 7-year-old? It seems like a particularly difficult thing to do when the child can barely read,” Null said.
And because the bill would limit the collection of children’s personal information — but still require platforms that children may access to gather enough details to verify a user’s age — it could increase data intrusions for all users, he said. “This is going to further incentivize all online companies to verify the age of all of their users, which is somewhat counterintuitive,” Null said. “You’re trying to protect privacy, but actually you’re now requiring a lot more data collection about every user you have.”
