ADVOCATING FOR SMART POLICIES TO PROTECT OUR KIDS ONLINE

Children’s Alliance is committed to addressing the youth behavioral health crisis in our state and across the nation. While there are many factors that can impact our children’s behavioral health, the evidence is clear that social media usage can significantly increase the risk of conditions such as depression or anxiety.  

We recently sent a letter to Senator Cantwell to urge her to support legislation requiring app stores to get parental approval for their teens under 16 to download an app. App store parental consent is simple, clear, and effective. It empowers parents to make decisions about how their children use social media and the internet.

Read the full letter below:

Dear Senator Cantwell,

The proliferation of social media has sparked a national conversation about how it affects the lives of young people, leading to a great deal of well-intentioned but misguided legislation introduced at all levels of government, creating a confusing patchwork of rules for parents to navigate with adverse spill-over effects. As such, the Children’s Alliance is working to advocate for policies that make it easy for parents to ensure their teens under 16 can access age-appropriate content and harness the benefits of the internet to learn, connect, and play.

We appreciate Congress's focus on protecting children online, especially with the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).

We urge you to consider alternative approaches that empower parents without compromising free speech or privacy. For example, app-store parental consent legislation could be a more targeted solution that would empower parents to make the best decisions about how their children use social media.

Federal legislation mandating that kids and teens obtain parental consent via the app store is the most effective method of allowing parents to have the final say on their children's appropriate use of social media. This method streamlines parental oversight of their teenagers’ online activities into a single platform. It enables parents to restrict their teenagers' access to inappropriate content while maintaining a higher level of privacy for personal or sensitive information for age verification without a patchwork of local rules.

Please ensure that any legislation meant to protect children online does not inadvertently restrict access to valuable resources or infringe on privacy rights.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

Dr. Stephan Blanford, Executive Director

Children’s Alliance