Legislation
Tell the US House: Don't Trade Weak Federal Youth Online Safety Laws for Federal State AI Law Preemption
Senate version Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Reintroduced in May 2025, contains strong youth protections.
- Requires social media platforms to provide minors with options to protect their information, disable addictive product features, and opt out of personalized algorithmic recommendations.
- Platforms are required to enable the strongest privacy settings for kids by default.
- Gives parents new controls to help protect their children and spot harmful behaviors, and provides parents and educators with a dedicated channel to report harmful behavior.
- Creates a duty for online platforms to prevent and mitigate specific dangers to minors, including promotion of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, and advertisements for certain illegal products (e.g. tobacco and alcohol).
- KOSA has been vetted thoroughly by child safety and tech policy experts. The bill preserves everyone’s free speech rights while holding platforms accountable for their addictive and dangerous design. KOSA is supported by major tech companies like Apple, Microsoft, Snap, and X.
Parent/Caregiver Strategies to Reduce Social Media Harms
Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist and author of "The Anxious Generation" and Dr. Jean Twenge, a research psychologist and author of the books, iGen and Generations, and "10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World" have made recommendations to help parents and caregivers help their kids.
- No Smartphones Before High School. Invest in cell phones with talk and text capability only.
- No social media before 16. Teens/tweens want to use social media platforms because their friends are using them. If parents and caregivers unite and discourage social media use for all kids under 16, peer pressure to use these platforms will be reduced.
- Phone Free Schools, Bell 2 Bell. Resources to help get these policies in your schools can be found in the Distraction-Free Schools Policy Project website
- No Cell Phones in Bedrooms at Night. #1 recommendation from 120 child mental health researchers, strong evidence that chronic sleep deprivation can cause a decline in mental health.
- Request schools, faith organizations and after-school activity coordinators not to use social media platforms for calendars and announcements - use e-mail or text instead (including extra curricular activities), teacher homework assignments, etc.
Parents Shouldn't Have to Fight Big Tech Alone
Read More at Medium.com
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About Social Media Harms
Our Vision
The mission of Social Media Harms is to spread awareness regarding online harms and to promote U.S. state & federal regulations that require technology companies to design products with the highest possible privacy and safety features by default.