Congress' online safety push stokes kids' mental health debate

Driving the news: Bipartisan legislation likely to pass the Senate this month would put the onus on tech companies to design platforms in ways that mitigate behavioral problems through a "duty of care" clause.

• But advocacy groups are divided over whether one of the two bills up for a vote, the Kids Online Safety Act, amounts to overreach, even after lawmakers revised the legislation in response to censorship concerns.

What they're saying: "Companies really do need to care and be looking out for how the kids using their platforms are doing," said Jenny Radesky, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Council on Communications and Media.

• "We're asking for that same model of how we care about kids in other parts of our industries and society to be in the tech spaces that they spend so much time," she said.
• The pediatrician trade organization, along with additional health groups including the American Psychological Association and the Eating Disorders Coalition, support the Kids Online Safety Act.

The other side: Others argue the bill, barring last-minute changes, would make kids less safe.

• Its focus on mitigating kids' depression or anxiety is overly broad and could lead tech companies to suppress content about transgender culture and even posts related to climate change or overcoming addiction, the bill's critics say.
• Conservative writers in 2022 said the Kids Online Safety Act could help "guard against the harms of sexual and transgender content."

There isn't a consensus on what kind of content makes kids upset or unsafe, said Evan Greer, director of nonprofit Fight for the Future.

• "A piece of content that might make one kid depressed or anxious might be really empowering and helpful to a different kid," she said.
• Tech companies should be legally accountable for harm caused to kids by social media — but the bill before the Senate isn't the way to do that, she added.
• The American Civil Liberties Union and other free speech advocates also oppose the bill, saying it amounts to censorship.

Context: Gen Z reports the worst mental health of any generation.

• Nearly 20% of kids have a mental, behavioral, developmental or emotional disorder, and suicidal behaviors among high schoolers increased more than 40% in the decade before 2019, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Social media and excessive screen time contribute to this crisis, studies show.

• Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory last year on social media's risks to kids. Many states have taken their own actions to protect kids online, ranging from parental consent requirements to resolutions urging the federal government to better regulate the industry.
• At the same time, research also shows that online forums and communities can help improve mental health for LGBTQ+ and other disenfranchised kids.
• Platforms wouldn't be required to stop kids from independently searching for content, per the most recent publicly available legislative text, which was released in February.

Reality check: Regardless of how they're crafted, online safety changes won't fully fix youth mental health struggles.

• Better funding for primary care physicians, more school-based mental health support and structural changes that give parents more time with their kids could also improve the situation, Radesky said.

What's next: The Senate could vote as soon as next week. But the legislation could face a tougher path through the House of Representatives.