Kerby Anderson

Social media has had a negative impact on children. We have been talking about this for years, and it is well documented in Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation. But finding a solution has become a challenge.

First, there are the lawsuits. Last month, a jury in Los Angeles held Meta platforms and Google’s YouTube liable for a woman’s personal troubles. The $6 million verdict is just the first of more than 3,000 lawsuits pending in California. The lead attorney (who I have interviewed on radio) warned social media companies to change their ways because they “didn’t just build apps, they built traps.”

Second, the government needs to craft legislation that provides protection. Christine Rosen reminds us that “the only federal law regulating social media use by children stems from the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which prohibits personal data-harvesting from children younger than 13 without a parent’s consent.”

Third, Senator Ted Cruz has introduced several key pieces of legislation to protect children online. Similar legislation has been introduced into state legislatures. Some bills have a ban on minors on social media or require parental consent.

The biggest legal challenge is how the courts apply the First Amendment. Judges have often ruled that such legislation is a violation of a child’s speech. Some courts have temporarily blocked such state laws.

Parental controls are often another challenge since they “place a heavy burden on parents” to master and monitor social media. One researcher notes this “would be difficult even if the tech companies wanted wholeheartedly to help parents place reasonable limits on their children’s media consumption, which they do not.”

It’s time for a coordinated effort to protect children from the potential dangers of social media.