Parental consent proposal throws wrench into kids’ online safety talks

New proposals that would require parental consent for teens to use social media are throwing a wrench into bipartisan support for kids’ online safety proposals.

Momentum in Congress to tackle concerns raised by the impact of social media on minors has been building over the past year. President Biden urged Congress to take action during his State of the Union Address in February, following a warning from the surgeon general.

Lawmakers are looking at ways to require platforms to offer updated safety tools and limit how they collect data on minors. But children’s online safety advocacy groups warn the recent surge in proposals that add a parental consent requirement could limit teens’ freedom online and put the onus on parents rather than the powerful tech companies. 

“This idea … is not just missing the mark on what needs to be done, but it’s also potentially harmful to kids,” said Danny Weiss, chief advocacy officer of Common Sense Media, a children’s media safety nonprofit group.

What would a parental consent requirement do? 

Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) introduced last week the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act, which would set a minimum age of 13 to use social media apps and require parental consent for kids aged 13 through 17 to use them.

The bipartisan federal bill mirrors proposals signed into state law by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in Arkansas and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R). The senators hailed it as a way for parents to regain control over what their teens are seeing online. 

“By setting an age limit of 13 — and requiring parental consent until age 18 — our bill will put parents back in control of what their kids experience online,” Cotton said. 

Weiss, however, said forcing parents to give consent to use social media will not necessarily keep kids safe from harmful content.

“If you don’t change the way the sites are operated and change the way data is stored, collected and sold, then once a parent gives consent for a child to go on social media, they’re in the same cesspool of the internet we’re in today,” Weiss said. 

The new Senate bill also proposes a ban on algorithmic recommendation systems, which would prevent platforms from using minors’ data to promote potentially harmful content for them.

Common Sense Media, along with advocacy groups Fairplay and the Center for Digital Democracy, said they support that portion of the legislation but not the underlying parental consent feature. 

Spokespeople for Schatz and Cotton did not respond to requests for comment in response to the criticism from the advocacy groups.

Despite its bipartisan backers, the proposal may face obstacles in gaining broader support in the Senate. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), one of the Senate’s most prominent advocates for updating kids’ online safety protections, raised concerns about the responsibility it would place on parents over tech companies. 

“I welcome allies in the fight to keep kids safe online. I’m concerned that this framework appears to shift responsibility from tech companies to parents,” Blumenthal said in a statement. 

In a joint statement about the Schatz and Cotton proposal, children’s online safety advocacy groups said it also harms minors by limiting their internet access — a concern for vulnerable minors, including LGBTQ kids, in unsupportive households. 

“We think that children or teens should be given some freedom to explore in safe environments,” Fairplay executive director Josh Golin said.

What other kids’ online safety proposals are being considered?

Children’s online safety advocacy groups have rallied instead around the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), led by Blumenthal and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)

KOSA would create a duty for social media platforms to prevent and mitigate harm to minors by targeting content promoting self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse and other potentially harmful topics. KOSA follows the U.K.’s Age Appropriate Design Code. 

Weiss said KOSA is not about giving parents control over their children’s access to social media, but rather the ability to offer their children safer settings. Even so, KOSA has also faced criticism over concerns it could harm the safety and privacy of minors, especially those in vulnerable communities. More than 90 human rights and LGTBQ groups sent a letter to the Senate in November urging it against passing the legislation. 

Children’s online safety groups are also supporting COPPA 2.0, or the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, which would update data privacy rules for minors and add new regulations, such as banning targeted advertising to children. 

What are states doing about kids’ online safety?

As Congress continues to mull action, states are plowing ahead with a patchwork of protections for social media companies to comply with — and seemingly deepening partisan divides in how red and blue states are advancing. 

As Utah and Arkansas adopt laws that require parental consent, Democratic-led states are weighing bills that follow in the footsteps of California’s new regulations for how platforms collect data on minors and the privacy settings they offer. 

State action, though, isn’t breaking down evenly along party-line proposals, Fairplay’s Golin said. 

Utah also passed a bill that would hold tech companies liable if the design of their platforms causes harm to minors. A similar proposal is being considered in California. 

“We are seeing in general maybe more of a focus on some bills that are putting more of the burden on the platforms,” Golin said. 

Even as some states pass strong bills Fairplay supports, Golin said it’s critical for Congress to take action on KOSA and COPPA 2.0 to get federal regulations in place. 

“We’ve heard from so many different people in Congress on both sides of the aisle that what’s happening is unacceptable, and that we need to hold Big Tech accountable for what they’ve been doing to kids in the mental health crisis. And now we’ll see if they’re ready to put their votes where their mouths are,” Golin said.