Last year Murthy warned that there wasn’t enough evidence to show that social media is safe for children and teens. He said at the time that policymakers needed to address the harms of social media the same way they regulate things like car seats, baby formula, medication and other products children use.
To comply with federal regulation, social media companies already ban kids under 13 from signing up for their platforms — but children have been shown to easily get around the bans, both with and without their parents’ consent.
Other measures social platforms have taken to address concerns about children’s mental health can also be easily circumvented. For instance, TikTok introduced a default 60-minute time limit for users under 18. But once the limit is reached, minors can simply enter a passcode to keep watching.
Murthy believes the impact of social media on young people should be a more pressing concern.
“Why is it that we have failed to respond to the harms of social media when they are no less urgent or widespread than those posed by unsafe cars, planes or food? These harms are not a failure of willpower and parenting; they are the consequence of unleashing powerful technology without adequate safety measures, transparency or accountability,” he wrote.
In January, the chief executives of Meta, TikTok, X and other social media companies went before the US Senate Judiciary Committee to testify as parents worry that they’re not doing enough to protect young people.
A teen sits in his bedroom and stares at his phone.
The executives touted existing safety tools on their platforms and the work they’ve done with nonprofits and law enforcement to protect minors.
Murthy said on Monday that Congress needs to implement legislation that would protect young people from online harassment, abuse and exploitation and from exposure to extreme violence and sexual content.
“The measures should prevent platforms from collecting sensitive data from children and should restrict the use of features like push notifications, autoplay and infinite scroll, which prey on developing brains and contribute to excessive use,” Murthy wrote.
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Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal supported Murthy’s message on Monday.
“We are pleased that the surgeon general – America’s top doctor – continues to bring attention to the harmful impact that social media has on our children,” the senators said in a prepared statement.
The surgeon general is also recommending that companies be required to share all their data on health effects with independent scientists and the public, which they currently don’t do, and allow independent safety audits.
Murthy said schools and parents also need to participate in providing phone-free times and that doctors, nurses and other clinicians should help guide families toward safer practices.
While Murthy pushes for more to be done about social media in the United States, the European Union enacted groundbreaking new digital rules last year.
The Digital Services Act (DSA) is part of a suite of tech-focused regulations crafted by the 27-nation bloc – long a global leader in cracking down on tech giants.
The DSA is designed to keep users safe online and make it much harder to spread content that’s either illegal, like hate speech or child sexual abuse, or violates a platform’s terms of service.
It also looks to protect citizens’ fundamental rights such as privacy and free speech.
Officials have warned tech companies that violations could bring fines worth up to 6 per cent of their global revenue – which could amount to billions of dollars – or even a ban from the EU.
AP
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