Dive Brief:
- The Biden administration doubled down on its call for Congress to pass legislation protecting children and teen’s health, safety and privacy online with a report released Monday by the Kids Online Health and Safety Task Force.
- Specifically, the task force, established by the White House last year, called for legislation that requires online platforms — particularly social media — to focus on the well-being and safety of young people over profit and revenue. That includes banning the use of targeted advertising on children and teens and the collection of their personal data.
- The report also recommends that online service providers should, by default, develop youth privacy protections and limit “likes” and social comparison features for children and teens. Online platforms should also tap into data-driven measures to prevent cyberbullying, online harassment and abuse, the task force said.
Dive Insight:
The White House’s heightened calls to promote accountability for online platforms and services comes as schools grapple with a youth mental health crisis that was further exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Less than half — 48% — of schools reported they could effectively offer mental health services to all students who need them, according to data released in May by the National Center for Education Statistics. Common roadblocks to providing those services include challenges with mental health professional staffing and funding.
In June, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called for a warning label on social media platforms, adding that they are an “important contributor” to the nation's worsening teen mental health crisis.
While schools work to find ways to support the social-emotional well-being of students, some districts have also focused on combating students’ social media use by banning cell phones during school hours or suing social media companies for harming students’ mental health and draining school resources.
Biden previously called on Congress to enact more online protections for young people in his State of the Union addresses. In last year’s speech, Biden directly asked lawmakers to “stop Big Tech from collecting personal data on our kids” with the passage of a law that would ban targeted online advertising to children.
Meanwhile, social media companies like Meta and Snapchat have said they have supports and safeguards for teens using their apps. In his testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company supports federal legislation that would require app stores to get parental approval when teens under 16 download apps.
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