SOTU: Biden asks Congress to pass new rules to enhance child safety on social media, including banning targeted ads to, and data collection of, children

He wants to ban targeted advertising to kids — President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass new rules to enhance child safety …

The Verge 2022-03-02 Makena Kelly

Context & Ripple Effects

Biden’s request placed child-directed advertising and data collection alongside platform-safety obligations already being pursued in the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act. Later coverage shows the agenda broadening from safety tools to account eligibility and consent requirements in a bipartisan Senate proposal for minors.

The policy direction also persisted across Biden’s subsequent calls for stronger privacy protections and Big Tech enforcement, while the FTC later proposed limits on under-13 targeting and use of data for notifications.

First-order effects

Congress is asked to take up restrictions that would bar social-media platforms from targeting ads to children and collecting their data, putting child privacy at the center of the legislative agenda.
Platforms serving children face a prospective shift away from data-driven advertising and toward safety and privacy controls if Congress enacts the requested rules.

Second-order effects

Age and parental-consent rules become more consequential for platforms, since the later Senate proposal ties minors’ access to social media to age thresholds and parental approval.
The FTC’s later proposal for opt-in targeted ads to under-13s shows agencies and lawmakers converging on tighter limits for child data, rather than treating advertising and safety as separate issues.

Third-order effects

If this legislative path holds, US child-online policy moves toward access-control regulation: platform access, parental consent, data use, and ad targeting become connected compliance questions.
The pattern points to a more durable distinction between services for children and general-audience social platforms, with privacy rules shaping how platforms can monetize younger users.

The trend: US policymakers are increasingly combining child-access restrictions with limits on the data and advertising practices that support youth social-media services.

Discussion

@potus President Biden on x
We must hold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment they're conducting on our children. It's time to strengthen privacy protections, ban targeted advertising to children, and demand tech companies stop collecting personal data on our children.
@wbm312 Whitney Merrill on x
I'm glad to see this called out in the State of the Union. Would also love to see privacy for all humans, not just children, get some attention too. https://twitter.com/...
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
And since it looks like Biden may be making social media/Section 230 an issue during tonight's SOTU (despite all the covid stuff still happening and Russia/Ukraine), @CathyGellis is pointing out why this is misguided: https://www.techdirt.com/...
@mattzeitlin Matthew Zeitlin on x
@esaagar didn't realize you were so anti crypto...
@jimsteyer Jim Steyer on x
Hats off to @POTUS for calling out social media platforms for the harms they cause to kids' mental health. Americans support strong action, and so do we. We've been ringing this bell for more than a decade. It's time to act. #SOTU https://twitter.com/...
@janschakowsky Jan Schakowsky on x
As @POTUS said, there is a mental health crisis among the nation's youth driven by social media. The time for apologies and denials from tech companies is over. It is time to act. #SOTU
@byjacobward Jacob Ward on x
Also, this has been quite a ride for Frances Haugen, who just got name-checked by the President.
@franceshaugen Frances Haugen on x
Social media giants tell the public that their platforms don't damage kids' mental health, yet my disclosures revealed their internal research that shows they know exactly the damage they're doing. Kids and parents are owed the truth. We must demand more. #SOTU
@janschakowsky Jan Schakowsky on x
But kids' data—their whole online lives—shouldn't be available in the first place for tech companies and their advertisers to rifle through. Our children deserve strong privacy protections. Protections that safeguard them by default.
@baboukai Ben-Ari on x
Interesting dichotomy to have innovative tech both touted as the future of American strength and also get slammed as a public threat. Getting the balance right will continue being a challenge for our generation of innovators, as well as policy makers #SOTU https://twitter.com/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
Having @FrancesHaugen is a nice signal by POTUS https://twitter.com/...
@accountabletech @accountabletech on x
It's time we hold Big Tech monopolies accountable for their harms to young people and #BanSurveillanceAdvertising. https://twitter.com/...
@profcarroll David Carroll on x
“national” is a weird way to say unethical but it's accurate that the US is experimenting with an ongoing failure to regulate data privacy as a narrow, industry specific problem rather than a universal fundamental right for all https://twitter.com/...
@anildash @anildash on x
smh why's Frances get the shoutout, I've been saying Facebook sucks since before they invented Poke
@joannastern Joanna Stern on x
Here's a first: The president calling for a redesign of social media apps https://www.whitehouse.gov/... https://twitter.com/...
@ronwyden Ron Wyden on x
Very pleased that @POTUS Biden is joining bipartisan members of Congress to take action on the mental health crisis. All Americans should be able to get mental health care where & when they need it. I look forward to the work ahead to make that a reality. https://thehill.com/...
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
Increasingly looking like — despite all the other actual serious problems in the world — Biden is planning to use the State of the Union to attack social media. https://t.co/gVjgbuc8iC
@cendemtech @cendemtech on x
.@POTUS is proposing increased support for mental health in schools. It's critical that efforts to support students' mental health also address harmful monitoring software that some schools are using. #SOTU2022 https://www.whitehouse.gov/... #SOTU
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
Biden calling for new online privacy protections for kids is a big deal. It would be a bigger deal if he extended that to adults.
@esaagar @esaagar on x
@MattZeitlin pro crypto, anti dishonest actors like Frances...
@janschakowsky Jan Schakowsky on x
Children have less ability to distinguish manipulative advertising or to tell when a post is disinformation. It's even hard for adults to tell!
@franceshaugen Frances Haugen on x
I'm grateful that @POTUS elevated what social media is doing to kids' mental health in the State of the Union so we can continue exposing the truth and empowering all parties to change this horrifying reality. #SOTU
@ezranbc Ezra Kaplan on x
She was ready with a thread—> https://twitter.com/...
@ronwyden Ron Wyden on x
Protecting the privacy of kids online is absolutely the right move. I support these efforts to ban targeted advertising aimed at kids and pass stronger protections for all Americans' private information.
@viacristiano Cristiano Lima on x
🚨 Big privacy news: Biden at the #SOTU “will call on Congress to strengthen privacy protections, ban targeted advertising to children, and demand technology companies stop collecting personal data on our children.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
@franceshaugen Frances Haugen on x
Facebook and Instagram are flawed products designed to addict and amplify the worst in our children and ourselves. They are buying their profits on the backs of our kids' mental health. #SOTU
@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
Noteworthy that in addressing digital privacy in #SOTU , Biden specifically scoped a hypothetical ban on targeted advertising *to children*. That is much more specific and narrower than the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act.
@esaagar @esaagar on x
Thank you Frances Haugen for taking a break from dodging capital gains taxes in Puerto Rico and making the trip to DC to advocate for censorship!
@ceciliakang Cecilia Kang on x
So some real talk here: passing legislation now amid multiple crises will be hard. I've seen dozens of privacy hills nowhere. BUT the focus on kids is bipartisan. And fact that “targeted advertising” made it into a SOTU speech feels like progress - if not now, inevitably https://…
@dens @dens on x
I'm so jaded by these speeches. Stop talking about this shit, just go get it done.
@franceshaugen Frances Haugen on x
We cannot let Meta run the same playbook on our kids and families that Big Tobacco did a generation ago by hiding research about the addictive, harmful nature of their products. #SOTU
@levie Aaron Levie on x
Great speech. Maybe the country could work together for at least the next few days?
@sayhar @sayhar on x
Integrity work is about so much more than children's mental health.
@reprokhanna Rep. Ro Khanna on x
Exactly. We need to hold social media companies accountable for the harm they're causing to young people. Passing my Internet Bill of Rights would be a good first step. Thanks to Frances Haugen for courageously speaking out. https://twitter.com/...
@profcarroll David Carroll on x
Ask yourself how companies will need to profile and identify users to disambiguate adults from children. Then ask yourself why we don't have the courage to protect the privacy of all. (Breaking my self-imposed timeout to tweet something in my wheelhouse.) https://www.whitehouse.g…
@joannastern Joanna Stern on x
INTEL INSIDE... the senate chamber https://twitter.com/...
@annalecta Anna Massoglia on x
Joe Biden talked about semiconductors at the State of the Union & his special guest at #SOTU is Intel's CEO. Intel spent over $4 million lobbying in 2021—including on the on the CHIPS for America Act, which gives $52 billion to U.S. chip manufacturers https://opensecrets.org/...
@govmikedewine @govmikedewine on x
We must move forward with the CHIPS Act so our country can independently manufacture technology that is critical for our everyday lives! In Ohio, we're taking the lead with @intel to produce semiconductor chips on American soil. It's a partnership that will transform our nation.

Chronicles