Dear Friend –

Pretty much all of us – except the Big Tech companies – now recognize the addictive nature of social media especially for kids and teens, along with associated mental health harms like depression, anxiety, bullying, and low self-esteem. [1]

And most of us want to do something about that – as evidenced by the widespread support for the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) at the federal level, which already has support from 67 Senators. (If you haven’t yet dropped your Senators a note to ask them to support KOSA, please take a minute to do so now.)

But while we fight for federal legislation to advance, state legislatures are stepping up to keep kids safe online with two very different approaches. One approach puts the burden back on parents rather than on the companies that created these harmful products in the first place. The other approach puts the onus on Big Tech and has actually been proven effective.

The first type of legislation we’re seeing in a group of states including Arkansas, Utah, and Florida, which have passed legislation entirely banning social media usage for kids and teens or prohibiting social media usage for kids and teens under a certain age without parental consent.

As a parent myself, I can see the initial appeal of these laws. Banning my kids from creating social media accounts until I decide they’re ready for them? Sounds great! However, the truth is that these laws are simply not effective at protecting kids online.

First, kids are likely to circumvent these laws. Second, they disproportionately put the burden on parents who may or may not be able to parse through the ways that social media affects their kids. Not to mention some companies are already looking for loopholes, making it even more difficult to navigate. [2] Finally, these laws do not go to the root of the problem of holding these social media companies accountable.

A far better approach to keeping our kids safe online is provided by “Kids Code” legislation currently advancing in Maryland, Vermont, and Minnesota based on the Age Appropriate Design Code model. This legislation has already been signed into law in California and enacted in the United Kingdom, and it has spurred nearly 100 changes from Big Tech companies to make online spaces safer and more private for kids, teens, and young adults. [3]

The Kids Code model doesn’t seek to moderate content online. Instead, it requires online platforms to take simple and reasonable measures to safeguard the data and protect the privacy of kids online. It also requires online products and services reasonably likely to be accessed by children and teens under 18 to be age-appropriate and designed in kids’ best interests, thus providing important guardrails to protect kids’ mental health online.

Here at Accountable Tech, we’ll keep fighting for legislation that puts the onus of responsibility for kids’ safety online on the Big Tech and social media companies that have designed their platforms to be purposefully addictive and exploitive of young people’s time, attention, and data. Instead of fighting to keep kids safe from the internet, we’re fighting to keep kids safe on the internet.

To learn more about the efforts to pass Kids Code laws around the country, please visit the Kids Code Coalition here.
To support Accountable Tech’s efforts to pass Kids Code legislation in various states and hold Big Tech accountable, please chip in a donation here.

Thanks for reading, and for any support you can provide.

Nicole Gill
Co-founder and Executive Director
Accountable Tech

1. ScienceNews: Social media harms teens’ mental health, mounting evidence shows. What now?
2. Gizmodo: The Utah and Arkansas Social Media Bans Won’t Protect Us
3. Children and Screens: UK’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Ushers in Nearly 100 Safe Digital Space Changes for Youth

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