Social media regulation could do more harm than good, say researchers at Duke University, Princeton University and UNC Chapel Hill. In a new report, they warn that state and federal laws seeking to bar or curb the spread of certain content are driven by an unproven belief that social media is causing a youth mental health crisis. Child online safety laws won’t solve mental illness and could harm marginalized kids by cutting them off from vital online communities and information, Alice Marwick, lead author of the report and associate professor at UNC Chapel Hill, told Ruth. Marwick said age-verification requirements would require kids and their parents to hand over more data to platforms to prove their age and might limit their free expression. And the government shouldn’t determine whether content is harmful, she said. Why it matters: The report raises concerns about the Kids Online Safety Act, which is making its way through the House and enjoys broad support in the Senate. A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee advanced it last week. Though the bill doesn’t require age verification, it tasks the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology with studying ways to verify the ages of website users. The researchers also argue that the bill gives the Federal Trade Commission too much power to determine what constitutes harmful content and could be used to take down LGBTQ+ content, abortion information or material about racism in the U.S. Notable: The report doesn’t take issue with legislation that calls on platforms to increase tools for kids to control their online experience or mitigate the use of features like infinite scroll or algorithmic content recommendation. What’s next? States are enacting child safety laws faster than the feds. However, some are getting waylaid by lawsuits that argue age-verification laws and rules that limit access to content violate free speech rights. Marwick says policymakers should seek to preserve privacy for all age groups and that everyone, not just children, could benefit from having more tools for curating their online experience.
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