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Our Kids Deserve Better: It's Time to Regulate Facebook
Children are uniquely vulnerable online, and our laws must reflect that with unique protections for kids.
Oct 30, 2021
From the moment kids log onto Instagram for the first time, the app is collecting information about their interests, habits, and identity. Powerful online platforms gobble up this data and use it to pump toxic, attention-grabbing content to screens--with full knowledge of the vulnerabilities of children and teens. This pernicious Big Tech business model of targeting kids early, according to its own research, leads to depression, body-image issues, and even suicidal thoughts.
Every day, kids are shown pictures of perfect bodies and weight loss ads. They are exposed to content featuring vaping and alcohol. They are stacked up against their peers in an online popularity contest to see who can receive the most "likes" or followers. Every day, young people spend hours on platforms that commodify their online identity and monetize their data.
I'm leading the fight to stop Big Tech from tracking children and teens, to safeguard our kids from dangerous content, and to fund research on how social media impacts kids' mental health.
That toxicity isn't a byproduct--it's how tech platforms make money. When profits come at the cost of our kids' well-being and safety, Congress must intervene. I'm leading the fight to stop Big Tech from tracking children and teens, to safeguard our kids from dangerous content, and to fund research on how social media impacts kids' mental health.
Children are uniquely vulnerable online, and our laws must reflect that with unique protections for kids. Regulation works. More than twenty years ago, I successfully passed the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which has since been used by the Federal Trade Commission to regulate tech companies and the way they interact with children. It's one reason Facebook hasn't officially permitted kids aged 12 and under onto its platform.
COPPA, however, was passed before the age of social media and smartphones--the "Before Facebook" era. Today's internet features instantaneous streaming, shopping, and socializing, primarily on mobile devices that are ubiquitous. The internet is oxygen for children--they can't live without it. And as the internet expands into every area of our lives, we must also enhance regulations to meet the moment--especially when it comes to our kids.
I introduced the bipartisan Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA 2.0, whichwould put on the books an updated children's privacy bill of rights, building off existing successful COPPA protections and extending them to teenagers ages 15 and under. My bipartisan bill bans targeted advertising towards kids, and provides parents with an online "eraser" button to give them the ability to delete the information companies have collected about their kids. Until we enact a new law to protect children and teens' privacy online, Big Tech will continue to track young people at every turn online.
But we also must protect our children from the platforms' harmful design features, manipulative marketing, and dangerous content. My Kids Internet Design and Safety (KIDS) Act, bans features like auto play and push notifications that incentivize kids to spend endless time on their devices. It would ban quantified popularity--such as the number of "likes" a photo may accrue--for kids, so that they aren't thrust into online popularity contests in a digital school cafeteria. It would also get rid of manipulative "influencer" marketing and harmful algorithms that direct kids to inappropriate content.
Kids live in a gauntlet of threats to their wellbeing online, and it's no wonder Facebook's internal research shows the negative impacts of these platforms on teens' mental health. But we can't rely on leaked documents to get a full understanding of the toll today's online ecosystem is having on our children and teens' psychological, physical and emotional development. That's why I have introduced the bipartisan Children and Media Research Advancement, or CAMRA Act,to fund a five-year, $95 million National Institutes of Health research initiative on the impacts of social media on children and teens. It's time parents have more evidence-based understanding of how technology is affecting young people's brains, bodies, and behaviors.
As the world joins in a global digital commons, we must create a bold regulatory framework that protects our children first and foremost. I am confident we will take steps to do so this Congress.
An Unconstitutional Rampage
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
Ed Markey
Senator Edward J. Markey is a Democrat representing Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate. Follow him on Twitter: @SenMarkey
From the moment kids log onto Instagram for the first time, the app is collecting information about their interests, habits, and identity. Powerful online platforms gobble up this data and use it to pump toxic, attention-grabbing content to screens--with full knowledge of the vulnerabilities of children and teens. This pernicious Big Tech business model of targeting kids early, according to its own research, leads to depression, body-image issues, and even suicidal thoughts.
Every day, kids are shown pictures of perfect bodies and weight loss ads. They are exposed to content featuring vaping and alcohol. They are stacked up against their peers in an online popularity contest to see who can receive the most "likes" or followers. Every day, young people spend hours on platforms that commodify their online identity and monetize their data.
I'm leading the fight to stop Big Tech from tracking children and teens, to safeguard our kids from dangerous content, and to fund research on how social media impacts kids' mental health.
That toxicity isn't a byproduct--it's how tech platforms make money. When profits come at the cost of our kids' well-being and safety, Congress must intervene. I'm leading the fight to stop Big Tech from tracking children and teens, to safeguard our kids from dangerous content, and to fund research on how social media impacts kids' mental health.
Children are uniquely vulnerable online, and our laws must reflect that with unique protections for kids. Regulation works. More than twenty years ago, I successfully passed the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which has since been used by the Federal Trade Commission to regulate tech companies and the way they interact with children. It's one reason Facebook hasn't officially permitted kids aged 12 and under onto its platform.
COPPA, however, was passed before the age of social media and smartphones--the "Before Facebook" era. Today's internet features instantaneous streaming, shopping, and socializing, primarily on mobile devices that are ubiquitous. The internet is oxygen for children--they can't live without it. And as the internet expands into every area of our lives, we must also enhance regulations to meet the moment--especially when it comes to our kids.
I introduced the bipartisan Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA 2.0, whichwould put on the books an updated children's privacy bill of rights, building off existing successful COPPA protections and extending them to teenagers ages 15 and under. My bipartisan bill bans targeted advertising towards kids, and provides parents with an online "eraser" button to give them the ability to delete the information companies have collected about their kids. Until we enact a new law to protect children and teens' privacy online, Big Tech will continue to track young people at every turn online.
But we also must protect our children from the platforms' harmful design features, manipulative marketing, and dangerous content. My Kids Internet Design and Safety (KIDS) Act, bans features like auto play and push notifications that incentivize kids to spend endless time on their devices. It would ban quantified popularity--such as the number of "likes" a photo may accrue--for kids, so that they aren't thrust into online popularity contests in a digital school cafeteria. It would also get rid of manipulative "influencer" marketing and harmful algorithms that direct kids to inappropriate content.
Kids live in a gauntlet of threats to their wellbeing online, and it's no wonder Facebook's internal research shows the negative impacts of these platforms on teens' mental health. But we can't rely on leaked documents to get a full understanding of the toll today's online ecosystem is having on our children and teens' psychological, physical and emotional development. That's why I have introduced the bipartisan Children and Media Research Advancement, or CAMRA Act,to fund a five-year, $95 million National Institutes of Health research initiative on the impacts of social media on children and teens. It's time parents have more evidence-based understanding of how technology is affecting young people's brains, bodies, and behaviors.
As the world joins in a global digital commons, we must create a bold regulatory framework that protects our children first and foremost. I am confident we will take steps to do so this Congress.
Ed Markey
Senator Edward J. Markey is a Democrat representing Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate. Follow him on Twitter: @SenMarkey
From the moment kids log onto Instagram for the first time, the app is collecting information about their interests, habits, and identity. Powerful online platforms gobble up this data and use it to pump toxic, attention-grabbing content to screens--with full knowledge of the vulnerabilities of children and teens. This pernicious Big Tech business model of targeting kids early, according to its own research, leads to depression, body-image issues, and even suicidal thoughts.
Every day, kids are shown pictures of perfect bodies and weight loss ads. They are exposed to content featuring vaping and alcohol. They are stacked up against their peers in an online popularity contest to see who can receive the most "likes" or followers. Every day, young people spend hours on platforms that commodify their online identity and monetize their data.
I'm leading the fight to stop Big Tech from tracking children and teens, to safeguard our kids from dangerous content, and to fund research on how social media impacts kids' mental health.
That toxicity isn't a byproduct--it's how tech platforms make money. When profits come at the cost of our kids' well-being and safety, Congress must intervene. I'm leading the fight to stop Big Tech from tracking children and teens, to safeguard our kids from dangerous content, and to fund research on how social media impacts kids' mental health.
Children are uniquely vulnerable online, and our laws must reflect that with unique protections for kids. Regulation works. More than twenty years ago, I successfully passed the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which has since been used by the Federal Trade Commission to regulate tech companies and the way they interact with children. It's one reason Facebook hasn't officially permitted kids aged 12 and under onto its platform.
COPPA, however, was passed before the age of social media and smartphones--the "Before Facebook" era. Today's internet features instantaneous streaming, shopping, and socializing, primarily on mobile devices that are ubiquitous. The internet is oxygen for children--they can't live without it. And as the internet expands into every area of our lives, we must also enhance regulations to meet the moment--especially when it comes to our kids.
I introduced the bipartisan Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA 2.0, whichwould put on the books an updated children's privacy bill of rights, building off existing successful COPPA protections and extending them to teenagers ages 15 and under. My bipartisan bill bans targeted advertising towards kids, and provides parents with an online "eraser" button to give them the ability to delete the information companies have collected about their kids. Until we enact a new law to protect children and teens' privacy online, Big Tech will continue to track young people at every turn online.
But we also must protect our children from the platforms' harmful design features, manipulative marketing, and dangerous content. My Kids Internet Design and Safety (KIDS) Act, bans features like auto play and push notifications that incentivize kids to spend endless time on their devices. It would ban quantified popularity--such as the number of "likes" a photo may accrue--for kids, so that they aren't thrust into online popularity contests in a digital school cafeteria. It would also get rid of manipulative "influencer" marketing and harmful algorithms that direct kids to inappropriate content.
Kids live in a gauntlet of threats to their wellbeing online, and it's no wonder Facebook's internal research shows the negative impacts of these platforms on teens' mental health. But we can't rely on leaked documents to get a full understanding of the toll today's online ecosystem is having on our children and teens' psychological, physical and emotional development. That's why I have introduced the bipartisan Children and Media Research Advancement, or CAMRA Act,to fund a five-year, $95 million National Institutes of Health research initiative on the impacts of social media on children and teens. It's time parents have more evidence-based understanding of how technology is affecting young people's brains, bodies, and behaviors.
As the world joins in a global digital commons, we must create a bold regulatory framework that protects our children first and foremost. I am confident we will take steps to do so this Congress.
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LATEST NEWS
Emails Show Trump Official Targeted Maine Social Security Services as Political Revenge
"Trump is clearly comfortable weaponizing Social Security for political purposes, and we fear that this is only the beginning," said one critic.
Apr 02, 2025
The top Democrat on the U.S. House Oversight Committee on Wednesday led calls for the resignation of acting Social Security Administration Commissioner Leland Dudek following the revelation of internal emails confirming that the SSA canceled contracts with the state of Maine as political payback after Democratic Gov. Janet Mills publicly defied President Donald Trump in support of transgender student athletes.
The emails—which were obtained by House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Gerry Connolly (D-Va.)—show that Dudek ordered the cancellation of enumeration at birth and electronic death registration contracts with Maine, even though SSAd subordinates warned that such action "would result in improper payments and potential for identity theft."
"These emails confirm that the Trump administration is intentionally creating waste and the opportunity for fraud."
Dudek—who is leading the SSA while the Senate considers Trump's nomination of financial services executive Frank Bisignano—replied to the staffer: "Please cancel the contracts. While our improper payments will go up, and fraudsters may compromise identities, no money will go from the public trust to a petulant child."
He was referring to Mills, who stood up to Trump in February after the president threatened to suspend federal funding for Maine unless the state banned transgender girls and women from participating on female scholastic sports teams.
The termination of the enumeration at birth contract briefly forced Maine parents to register their newborns for a Social Security number at a Social Security office, rather than checking a box on a form at the hospital as is customary, before the SSA reversed its decision.
Connolly sent Dudek a letter demanding that he "resign immediately" and submit to a transcribed interview with House Oversight Committee Democrats. Connolly wrote that Dudek "ordered these contracts terminated" as "direct retaliation" for Mills' defiance, "even though you knew that doing so would increase improper payments and create opportunities for fraudsters."
Government accountability advocates also condemned Dudek's actions.
"These emails confirm that the Trump administration is intentionally creating waste and the opportunity for fraud—in this case, to punish Maine Gov. Janet Mills for not bowing down to Donald Trump," Social Security Works president Nancy Altman told Common Dreams.
"The people actually punished by these actions were exhausted new parents in Maine, forced to drag their newborns to overcrowded Social Security offices in the middle of a measles outbreak," she continued. "Thankfully, the Trump administration had to quickly reverse course after massive public outrage. But Trump is clearly comfortable weaponizing Social Security for political purposes, and we fear that this is only the beginning."
"Once again, we see Team Trump resorting to revenge to set domestic policy."
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told Common Dreams that "it does not surprise us at all that this administration would weaponize Social Security against anyone who disagrees with or challenges President Trump."
"It's one of the concerns that we have with Elon Musk and [the Department of Government Efficiency] having access to everyone's personal data without any defensible explanation for why they need it," he continued. "We and the American people have legitimate worries, not only that this information will be vulnerable to hackers, but also that it could intentionally be misused as a weapon against anyone who publicly disagrees with Trump."
"The fact that the acting commissioner himself publicly admitted that he didn't really understand the Maine contract, but canceled it anyway, proves that this administration is making reckless changes that affect real people for no legitimate reason," Richtman added. "Once again, we see Team Trump resorting to revenge to set domestic policy."
The revelation of Dudek's emails comes amid SSA turmoil caused by the termination of thousands of agency personnel in what Trump, Musk, and other Republicans claim is an effort to reduce waste and fraud. Musk—who recently referred to Social Security as the the "biggest Ponzi scheme of all time"—has proposed the elimination of up to 50% of SSA's workforce and has said that up to $700 billion could be cut from programs including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Jewish Students Chain Themselves to Columbia Fence to Protest Khalil Detention
"As Jewish students, we grew up learning about the rise of fascism, learning about how important it is to stand up when you see injustice in the world," said one protester.
Apr 02, 2025
Jewish Columbia University students had chained themselves to a fence on campus for 45 minutes on Wednesday, in protest of the school's cooperation with immigration agents to arrest a leader of last year's pro-Palestinian encampment, when New York City Police officers arrived to break up the nonviolent action.
One student identified as Shea, who was wearing a kippah with a watermelon design and a keffiyeh—symbols of Palestinian solidarity—told independent journalist Meghnad Bose that university trustees are "directly implicated" in Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) targeting of Mahmoud Khalil, a former student who helped lead negotiations demanding Columbia's divestment from Israel last year.
Shea said trustees handed over the names of Khalil and other pro-Palestinian students at Columbia to the government.
"We are here in protest of that to demand that the university tell us which trustees, which members of the university administration, are responsible for this so we can demand immediate consequences for them and hold them accountable for what they've done to our peer," said the undergraduate student.
Shea added that Jewish students were leading the protest because "the attacks on our international students, on students of color, have been so fierce, so dangerous, so disproportionate that we are the only students who can be here right now taking this risk."
Listen in to the student protesters themselves @DropSiteNews pic.twitter.com/R3LIWWQspI
— Meghnad Bose (@MeghnadBose93) April 2, 2025
Plainclothes ICE agents abducted Khalil last month as he was returning home to his apartment in a Columbia-owned building with his pregnant wife. The agents refused to identify themselves and ultimately Khalil was sent to an ICE detention facility in Louisiana. Khalil is an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent and had a green card, which has reportedly been revoked by the Trump administration, while his wife—who is pregnant with their first child—is a U.S. citizen.
A federal court in New Jersey ruled Tuesday that the challenge to ICE's unlawful detention of Khalil should continue in the state. His wife responded that "this is an important step towards securing Mahmoud's freedom, but there is still a lot more to be done. As the countdown to our son's birth begins and I inch closer and closer to my due date, I will continue to strongly advocate for Mahmoud’s freedom and for his safe return home so he can be by my side to welcome our first child."
Khalil was detained days after the Trump administration announced it was canceling $400 million in grants and contracts for Columbia in retaliation for what it claimed was a failure to address antisemitism on campus. The Trump administration has conflated expressions of support for Palestinian rights on college campuses with attacks on Jewish students, as did the Biden administration before it.
Columbia oversaw an aggressive response to the protests last year, allowing NYPD officers to drag students out of a building they occupied and unofficially renamed Hind's Hall after Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.
An analysis of last year's pro-Palestinian campus protests, many of which were led by Jewish students, found that 97% of them were nonviolent.
A Barnard College student identified as Tali said Wednesday that "as Jewish students, we grew up learning about the rise of fascism, learning about how important it is to stand up when you see injustice in the world."
Campus security quickly cordoned off the area where students had chained themselves to the fence. After the NYPD arrived, security officers used bolt cutters to remove the protesters from the fence.
Breaking: Columbia campus security bring giant bolt cutters to forcibly break the student protesters away from the Columbia gates they had chained themselves to.@DropSiteNews pic.twitter.com/pSROblLjjf
— Meghnad Bose (@MeghnadBose93) April 2, 2025
Bose reported that "in [a] sudden escalation, Columbia campus security aggressively [engaged] student protesters," and tried to take away a banner reading, "Free Mahmoud Khalil."
"Love and solidarity to these courageous Jewish students who have chained themselves to the gates of Columbia in protest of the university turning over their friend Mahmoud Khalil to a fascist administration," said Simone Zimmerman, co-founder of the Jewish-led group IfNotNow.
The students, said Zimmerman, "are taking risks today that they know most of their peers cannot."
Watchdogs Warn Trump Pick for Interior Will Assist Corporate Attack on Public Lands
The Trump administration is "plotting to sell off America's national public lands to their billionaire friends, and Kate MacGregor is the perfect henchwoman."
Apr 02, 2025
Watchdog groups are warning that U.S. President Donald Trump's pick for deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Kate MacGregor—who they call a friend of the fossil fuel industry—will be an enthusiastic accomplice in the Trump administration's efforts to open up public land to oil and gas leasing.
Trump, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and Trump's billionaire adviser Elon Musk "are plotting to sell off America's national public lands to their billionaire friends, and Kate MacGregor is the perfect henchwoman," said Alan Zibel, a research director with the watchdog Public Citizen, in a statement on Wednesday.
MacGregor, an energy company executive who was deputy secretary of the Department of the Interior during the first Trump administration from early 2020 until January 2021 had her confirmation hearing Wednesday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Oil Change International's U.S. campaign manager Collin Rees blasted MacGregor over her testimony, including support for legislation co-sponsored by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) that would require the Interior Department to hold two offshore oil and gas lease sales per year for 10 years.
MacGregor's previous time in the Interior Department, showed she "prioritized fossil fuel interests over the good of the American people."
"Her support for a decade of at least two offshore oil and gas lease sales is completely incompatible with avoiding the worst impacts of the climate crisis, as well as the Department of Interior's mandate to protect public lands and waters," Rees said.
In 2017, as an aide to then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, MacGregor helped successfully fast track a permit for an oil firm to begin fracking on a patch of farmland in Oklahoma, according to 2019 reporting from the investigative outlet Reveal.
"While a senior staffer of the House Committee on Natural Resources, she developed strong ties to the energy industry and its lobbyists," according to Reveal. "In recent years, she has also built a public profile as an advocate of offshore oil drilling and a foe of any environmental rules that might limit energy production."
According to a record of her work calendar, which was obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request by the nonprofit publication Pacific Standard, MacGregor met over 100 times with extractive industry groups or representatives between January of 2017 and January of 2018, when she was at the Department of the Interior but not yet the deputy secretary.
Pointing to MacGregor's background, executive director of the watchdog Accountable.US Tony Carrk said that with MacGregor's nomination, Trump "continues to build a dream team of big oil and gas shills to ravage America's public lands, while taxpayers and our environment deal with all the fallout."
Zibel of Public Citizen also noted that "public lands belong to all Americans, not wealthy corporate executives."
Meanwhile, Public Citizen is also sounding the alarm on the expected appointment of Matt Giacona, a lobbyist for the National Ocean Industries Association—which represents oil, gas, and wind companies working offshore—to head the Department of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The current person leading BOEM is retiring, according to Politico Pro.
In response to the potential appointment of Giacona to BOEM, which oversees offshore energy production in deep waters, director of Public Citizen's energy program Tyson Slocum on Wednesday said: "Trump Appointing a Big Oil lobbyist to oversee deep water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico shows that the administration's goal is to empower and enrich powerful corporations at the expense of everyone and everything else."
"This continues the clear trend of Trump turning federal agencies and the public good into profit opportunities for powerful corporate interests," he said.
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