Courts Are Letting Social Media Platforms Get Away with Manipulating Children
A Utah judge was wrong to strike down the state’s attempt to protect kids from the harms of social media.
“Earlier this month, Judge Robert Shelby of the U.S. District Court of Utah declared unconstitutional the Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act, which the state legislature passed this spring. We believe this is an act of judicial activism that is based on flawed reasoning, legally and practically.
You don’t need social scientists to tell you something is wrong. Parents can look around and see for themselves: Kids aren’t talking to each other or the adults in their lives. Instead they are staring down at screens, lost in their own virtual world. This behavior is not accidental; nor are the deleterious effects that social scientists such as Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, and Jean Twenge have documented. Social media have conducted a radical experiment on our kids. Algorithms and addictive design features determine what our kids see and learn, with no parental involvement or oversight. The result has been major spikes in the rates of teen anxiety, depression, suicide, and self-harm.
Many states like Utah have stepped up to help parents free their children from the addictive design and harmful effects of social media.” Continue reading the full piece on National Review.
Two other items of note:
I was recently interviewed on the North Carolina Family Policy Council’s “Family Policy Matters” podcast about getting phones out of schools. You can listen and see the transcript here.
This afternoon at 2:30 PM ET I will be speaking on a panel hosted by The Heritage Foundation about children’s online safety. The panel will be discussing current legislative solutions, including the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). You can register to attend virtually here.
Great piece, Clare. Thank you for making this your fight. I have a friend who calls our exposure to social media a crime against humanity. It is weaponizing our psychology for profit, while turning children into easily controlled automatons, while annihilating their quality of life. The fact that our courts can't see this is yet another sign that they are here to protect corporations rather than people.