The exterior dome of the Wisconsin state Capitol is seen in Madison Feb. 15, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK ) — A new bill being proposed in the Wisconsin State Legislature would aim to provide more safety for kids on social media.
But how effective would these requirements be?
Protecting children from the potential harms of social media is the goal of the Kids Online Safety Act. State Rep. David Steffen, R-Howard, is one of the legislators that introduced the bill.
“Our children are spending, on average, over five hours a day on social media. That activity is resulting, especially for girls, in excessive amounts of anxiety, depression and self-harm,” Steffen said.
The proposal lists a number of safety requirements that would need to be followed:
- Requiring social media companies to perform age estimation to identify kids’ accounts
- Requiring a parent’s consent and access to their child’s account
- Requiring the strictest privacy settings
- Prohibiting addictive features, like infinite scrolling and targeted advertising
- Empowering parents to place time restrictions on their child’s accounts
Steffen admits it’s not a complete solution, but he calls it an important step toward improving online safety for children.
“They’re still probably going to find a way to get on social media, but we have to do something to provide some controls,” Steffen said.
UW-Oshkosh Cybersecurity Center of Excellence Director Michael Patton said he likes the intention of Steffen’s legislation and believes it brings up some good points. However, he thinks it will be hard to confirm whether or not children are really getting adult supervision and consent.
“Anyone motivated enough to get around a boundary can get around a boundary,” Patton said.
He also doesn’t believe these safety requirements, like social media companies estimating a user’s age, while possible, are a realistic solution.
“That’s based on what you post, etc. etc. I’m not going to know that you’re a child until you’ve already been on the software, and so I think that’s a bit problematic,” Patton said.
For the restrictive settings, Patton said there’s nothing stopping someone from changing it to a less restrictive setting. He said while technological barriers are a good step, a change in behavior is more important.
“The easiest way to stop your child from having too much time on TikTok, etc., is don’t give them a smart phone,” Patton said.
If the bill is passed, Steffen says social media companies will face “significant financial penalties.”
Steffen believes the legislation will have bipartisan support and hopes to have it on Gov. Tony Evers’ desk by the spring.
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