KOSA is being highlighted today as Meta tries to demonstrate (too late) that it can regulate itself

The Children’s Online Safety and Privacy Act (KOSPA) is up for debate in the House of Representatives today and could be voted on in the House plenary later this month. Under mounting pressure from child safety advocates and the bipartisan push for regulation, Meta announced the launch of a teen version of Instagram, which we see as a welcome step forward.

Meanwhile, several US states implementing phone-free policies in schools. Australia will probably increase the minimum age for social media use up to 16, Greece is to enforce a nationwide ban on telephones in schools, and France has implemented a bell-to-bell phone-free policy in 180 secondary schools. In addition, one of England’s largest school academy trusts, with over 35,000 students, phase out telephones in her schools. We are particularly excited about the phone-free school initiatives that continue from bell to bell and go beyond the bans on class times. policy that most teachers want and that we have long recommended.

In response to these growing initiatives, Meta and other social media companies (along with their lobby groups and the digital rights groups they fund) have stepped up their marketing campaigns to minimize the harm their platforms cause to teens and to resist regulatory measures.

We have published two essays (one in The Atlantic Ocean and one in The New York Times) in the past week to expose the disingenuous arguments of these companies, particularly those used to combat KOSPA. These arguments include:

1. Social media is actually advantageous for teenagers.

2. It is especially beneficial for teens from historically marginalized communities.

3. Nearly every regulation of social media is harmful to teens from historically marginalized communities.

4. KOSPA is a “censorship law” that violates the freedom of expression of young users.

All of these claims are misleading and misrepresent the actual impact of these products.

Part

In our first piece, for The Atlantic Oceanwe (Zach and Jon) and Lennon Torres (an LGBTQ+ advocate and campaign manager at The Heat Initiative) claim that social media causes damage teenagers in underserved communities more than others and that KOSPA in fact advantage these teenagers the most. We also expose the hypocrisy of tech leaders who protect their own children from their products (by denying them access to devices, sending them to Waldorf schools, and making their nannies sign screen-time contracts) while publicly claiming their products are harmless.

You can read the full article hereor here on To Babylon.

Image. Mark Zuckerberg apologizes to those who have been victims of child sexual exploitation during a Senate hearing. Lennon can be seen sitting just above and to the left of Zuckerberg’s hands. Source: The New York Times. Photo: Kenny Holston/The New York Times.

Read the essay on the Atlantic Ocean

In our second piece, published in The New York Timespresent the findings of a nationally representative survey of 1,006 Gen Z adults (ages 18-27) that we conducted in partnership with The Harris Poll. We wrote the essay with Will Johnson, CEO of The Harris Poll. The research shows that more than half of Gen Z spends more than four hours per day on social media, with 23% spending more than seven o’clock daily. Most support child safety regulations, and almost half I wish TikTok, X/Twitter and Snapchat had never been invented.

You can read our overview of the research results in our Essay from the New York Times, and you can find the full results of the survey at the Harris Poll website.

Read the essay from The New York Times

The implication of these many developments is that the tide has turned. The tipping point is here. Collective action is happening at a speed we could not have imagined when we published this. The fearful generation back in March. It’s happening in schools across the country and around the world. It’s happening in state capitals and — eventually, maybe — in the U.S. Congress. And it’s happening among groups of parents who are joining and synchronizing to say: Not anymore. Not with my children.. Parents, teachers and politicians everywhere have had enough and seen enough. They are taking action to reverse phone-based childhoods and restore a more play-based childhood. Join them, join us, by signing up at Angstigegeneratie.com And LetGrow.com.