“I’m going to continue to drive this message until we get it passed before the end of this year.” Safety Proposals

Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a sponsor of one major child privacy bill ( S. “The crisis in mental health for young people is so great that Congress would have made an historic mistake if it did not act - and act now,” said Sen. Lawmakers are digging in against the criticisms - and the tech industry - in hopes of approving legislation in the coming months, especially after past failures to address the problem. “The bills are, on balance, gonna hurt more people than they’re gonna help,” said India McKinney, director of federal affairs at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group that’s urged Congress to block legislation.īehind the scenes, social media giants’ recent federal lobbying disclosures show a spending blitz over privacy and safety concerns. Families and schools have sued major platforms, including Snap Inc.'s Snapchat, Meta Platforms Inc.'s Instagram and TikTok Inc., over alleged harm to teens’ well-being.Ī motley collection of LGBTQ+ advocates, free speech crusaders, and technology nonprofits maintain that the legislation, while laudable, risks creating more online surveillance and censorship that threaten the privacy and safety of all internet users. “It’s just so overdue for some action by the Congress.”Īdvocates for kids’ mental health have decried social media algorithms that they say promote eating disorders, self-harm, and substance abuse.

Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who’s introduced a child privacy bill ( H.R. “What is so frustrating here is that the special interests, these big tech platforms, have outsized influence, and parents and kids are just kind of left out there to grapple with the harms of mental health concerns and anxiety,” said Rep. Congressional efforts to strengthen children’s safety and privacy online amid a youth mental health crisis are running into opposition from lobbyists who warn legislative proposals would be counterproductive.

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