Parents, states press Congress to act on kids online safety bill

Gopal Ratnam, CQ-Roll Call on Dec 4, 2024

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WASHINGTON — Parents whose kids died allegedly because of social media content are pushing lawmakers to require tech companies to alter practices to minimize such harms.

Attorneys general in more than half of U.S. states support the same legislation, saying “many social media platforms target minors, resulting in a national youth mental health catastrophe.”

But with few days left in the current session, House leadership hasn’t set a floor vote for a measure approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in September. The bill’s companion in the Senate passed on a 91-3 vote in July.

“We are trying to get it done,” Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., said in a recent hallway interview in the Capitol. “I’m working like heck to get it done.” Bilirakis is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce, whose jurisdiction includes data privacy, security and consumer protection.

Bilirakis said he had spoken with the House Republican leadership, including Speaker Mike Johnson, about bringing the measure to a vote. “I haven’t given up at all,” Bilirakis said. “I think we have a shot.”

A spokesman for Johnson’s office did not respond to questions about the bill.

Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, one of the lawmakers seeking the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the new Congress, said he had not discussed the bill with Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the committee chair who’s retiring. Latta said in a brief interview that he wasn’t aware of whether the schedule will include the bill.

Social media companies’ aversion to the legislation is no secret. Tech industry trade groups — including NetChoice, a group that represents top tech platforms including Google LLC, Meta Platforms Inc. and Snap Inc. — have said that the measure is anti-constitutional because it curbs free speech.

Meta, for example, favors requiring app stores to get parents’ consent if kids under 16 want to download certain social media apps. A spokesman said that would be better than the proposals being considered in Congress, even with the House version stripping out some Senate bill provisions through a substitute amendment by Bilirakis.

The first provision removed would have required tech companies to exercise a “reasonable care in the creation and implementation of any design feature to prevent and mitigate” harms to minors, including mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression, eating disorders, substance use disorders and suicidal behaviors.

The second provision would have required tech companies to design their products and services to mitigate “patterns of use that indicate or encourage compulsive usage by minors.”

During the committee vote, several Democratic lawmakers lamented that Bilirakis’ amendment was released a day before the markup, leaving them without time to propose changes. The amendment was approved by a voice vote.

Pleas from parents

Among the parents pushing for passage is a state legislator touched by the issue.

“I’m tired of seeing kids die daily while we have Congress playing politics,” said Brandon Guffey, a Republican state representative from South Carolina. “I’m watching money go around. I’m watching misinformation on the kids online safety bill.”

Guffey, speaking at an event organized last week by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said his 17-year old son Gavin committed suicide in July 2022 after becoming a victim of online sexual extortion on Instagram, a platform owned by Meta. Parents and their lawyers at the event urged Congress to protect kids online.

A group of 31 state attorneys general, led by Tennessee’s Jonathan Skrmetti, wrote to the House and Senate leaders on Nov. 18 pressing them to pass the measure.

Other groups, such as kids safety advocate Design It For Us, have pushed House Republicans to beef up the provisions in the bill.

“If Congress fails to pass KOSA this year, it will jeopardize the lives of more young people,” Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of Design It For Us, said in a text message. “We can’t wait any longer.”

The measure is about “design, not content,” said Laura Marquez-Garrett, an attorney at the Social Media Victims Law Center in Seattle. The group represents 3,600 families from all 50 states who have lost a loved one to social media harms, she said.

Speaking at the same event as Guffey, Marquez-Garrett said that “there were changes made and those concerns were resolved,” including removing any penalties on platforms for hosting content.

In the absence of guardrails, when kids search for inspirational quotes online, for example, social media platforms serve up “extreme videos,” she said.

A 16-year old boy who searched online for inspirational quotes “after his first heartbreak got thousands of ‘no one will ever love you’ and suicide-promoting videos,” and the boy committed suicide, Marquez-Garrett said.