With the White House, Senate, and Congress now under Republican rule, bills blocked for months and even years by a Democrat-controlled upper chamber now have renewed momentum.
Among the pieces of legislation impeded by the left was Senator Katie Britt’s Kids Off Social Media Act.
On Tuesday, the Alabama lawmaker reintroduced the bill in the Senate. If passed it will prohibit social media platforms from allowing children under the age of 13 to create or maintain social media accounts and ban social media companies from pushing targeted content using algorithms to users under the age of 17.
“There’s no doubt our country is in the throes of a mental health crisis, and the rise of social media usage among children and teenagers is inextricably tied to this issue,” said Britt. “As a mom, this is something my own kids and their friends have to contend with every day. And as a Senator, I know our nation has to contend with it to safeguard the next generation. Putting in place commonsense guardrails that protect our kids from the dangers of social media is critical for their future and America’s future.”
“I’m committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to put parents in the driver’s seat and enact commonsense, age-appropriate solutions to tackle this generational challenge.”
The bill would also ensure that the Federal Trade Commission and state attorney generals have the authority to enforce the provisions of the bill and follow the existing Children’s Internet Protection Act framework, with changes, to require schools to work in good faith to limit social media on their federally-funded networks.
According to multiple studies, no age demographic has been more affected by the ongoing mental health crisis in the United States than children, particularly young girls.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey, for example, found that 57 percent of high school girls and 29 percent of high school boys felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021, with 22 percent of all high school students—and nearly a third of high school girls — reporting they had seriously considered attempting suicide in the preceding year.
From 2019 to 2021, overall screen use among teens and tweens (ages 8 to 12) increased by 17 percent, with tweens using screens for five hours and 33 minutes per day and teens using screens for eight hours and 39 minutes. The U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory last year, calling for new policies to set and enforce age minimums and highlighting the importance of limiting the use of features, like algorithms, that attempt to maximize time, attention, and engagement.
Austen Shipley is the News Director for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten
