The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently hosted a workshop on kids' online activity, titled "The Attention Economy: How Big Tech Firms Exploit Children and Hurt Families." Speakers included two U.S. Senators, all three FTC Commissioners, and representatives from groups such as the Family First Technology Initiative, Heritage Foundation, the American Principles Project, and Family Policy Alliance among others.
Representatives from technology companies were not included in the workshop, resulting in a presentation with a relatively limited range of viewpoints. The June 4 workshop's four panels were titled: (1) "Are Kids in Danger Online?"; (2) "How Can the FTC Help Protect Kids Online?"; (3) "Is Age Verification the Future of the Internet?"; and (4) "What Can Be Done Outside of Washington DC?"
A summary of the treatment of each panel is provided below along with a look at how the FTC may proceed on these topics in the future. We also discuss some of the legislative proposals speakers and moderators endorsed.
Are Kids in Danger Online?
The participants were united in agreeing that children are exposed to harmful content online, including cyberbullying, content about illegal drugs, and adult connections that could lead to sexual exploitation. Panelists pointed to rising anxiety and depression rates among children and teens that they say have been linked to smartphone and social media use.
Several speakers also identified specific features of online platforms they believe are particularly addictive, including infinite scroll, push notifications and alerts, and stories that disappear after a certain time to create a false sense of urgency. Many also argued that teens are especially vulnerable to risk of addiction, because their social lives increasingly flow through online platforms. In fact, Commissioner Meador analogized technology platforms' counter-arguments for individual choice to practices engaged in by tobacco companies in an effort to "hook" consumers.
Other speakers addressed kids' access to online pornography and exposure to adults who could exploit them. Both Chairman Ferguson and Commissioner Holyoak mentioned an FTC settlement with a company that allegedly offered an anonymous messaging app that connected kids to adults. In the settlement, the company agreed to a ban on offering anonymous messaging to minors and agreed to implement age verification procedures.
How Can the FTC Help Protect Kids Online?
Given the participants' consensus on potential harms, the next topic was what the FTC could do to address them. Overall, there was agreement among the panelists that additional enforcement is needed. These calls for greater enforcement generally fell into two buckets:
First, speakers advocated for rigorous enforcement of existing online child protection laws like the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the recently enacted Take It Down Act, which deals with nonconsensual intimate imagery posted online. Speakers argued that stronger enforcement would deter violations of existing laws, but acknowledged that it likely would not address many of the potential harms that were discussed during the workshop. Several panelists also advocated for Congress to amend COPPA to apply to children 13 and older.
Second, speakers encouraged the FTC to adopt a more expansive view of its "deception and unfairness" authority, to address issues like ineffective parental controls, misrepresentations to parents about content made available to children, and failure by platforms to enforce guidelines and terms of service regarding harmful content.
Along with enforcement and legislation, Commissioner Holyoak also suggested further study, in particular calling for the FTC to issue orders under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act to gather information and issue a public report about children interacting with AI chatbots online.
Is Age Verification the Future of the Internet?
Several panels discussed age verification as a potential solution to address harm to children online. Many of the panelists supported enactment of laws like Louisiana's age verification law, versions of which have passed in more than 20 states.
The Louisiana law has two primary requirements. First, commercial entities that "knowingly and intentionally" publish "material harmful to minors" must undertake "reasonable age verification." Second, these entities must delete any data collected for age verification as soon as such verification is completed. The second requirement echoes Chairman Ferguson's prior call for the FTC to amend its COPPA rule to exempt data collected solely for purpose of age verification and to require that such information be promptly deleted once that purpose is fulfilled.
Other panelists supported both state and federal versions of App Store Accountability Acts, which generally require app stores to verify users' age, obtain verifiable parental consent for minors to download apps, and display app age ratings accurately. These laws generally operate by providing parents with a private right of action to sue app stores for harm to their children resulting from exposure to harmful materials, while also providing app stores with a safe harbor if they comply with requirements.
What Can Be Done Outside of Washington DC?
The final panel at the FTC workshop focused less on regulatory solutions and more on the individual choices parents could make to protect children online. Panelists expressed frustration that parental control tools are often ineffective and difficult to use, but they provided limited proposals for legislative solutions at either the state or federal level. Rather, the speakers largely focused on the actions a parent could take to limit access to certain online content, such as not providing children with smartphones or access to social media and building like-minded communities to prevent kids from feeling excluded from social circles that revolve around social media.
Looking to the Future
All signs from the workshop point to an increased focus by the FTC on enforcing existing laws like COPPA and the Take It Down Act (when it becomes effective), with the potential of using the FTC Act authority to address deceptive or unfair practices to protect kids in more novel ways. In a September 2024 speech, then-Commissioner Ferguson advocated against using general consumer protection laws like the FTC Act's prohibition on unfair and deceptive practices "to solve larger social, economic, or political issues facing our respective nations." However, with participants urging the FTC to expand the scope of the FTC Act's reach to protect children, the current FTC may consider relying on such approaches. As the Commission resolves its enforcement approach, we may also see additional policy work in this space, such as the industry study proposed by Commissioner Holyoak.
Additional legislation may also provide the FTC with additional enforcement tools. Chairman Ferguson urged Congress to require "that any smartphone and operating systems as well as online services give parents the tools they need to carry out their preferred approach to supervising, protecting and raising their children online." And other speakers and panelists expressed support for several other bills that call for FTC enforcement, including the Kids Online Safety Act, the Kids Online Protection and Anti-Grooming Act, and the Kids Off Social Media Act.
In sum, the workshop previewed that there is much more to come from the FTC in approaching kids' online interactions.
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