The Minnesota House of Representatives committee approved a bill banning social networks from targeting content at children under 18. Hearings in the Senate are scheduled for the coming week.
SESSION DAILY: House panel advances bill proposing state guardrails on social media algorithms https://t.co/GW8ZVB5ppP#mnleg #mnhouse
— MNHouseInfo (@MNHouseInfo) March 16, 2022
According to the document, children on social networks would see posts only from people they have added as friends. The legislation excludes user-generated content created by educational institutions — they would still be allowed to send targeted messages to high school students.
Representatives from both parties said social networks do harm to children, contributing to body image issues, anxiety and depression.
According to Brina Austin, a professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 63% of teens and 13% of children aged 8 to 12 use social networks daily. A child might like a before-and-after photo, and the algorithms would show more content like that.
“Social media platforms, especially with images like Instagram, can be very damaging to the mental health of adolescents,” said Austin.
Tech companies opposed the restrictions. They accuse lawmakers of trying to stifle free speech and harming the user experience. According to lobbyists for the tech giants, blocking user content could prevent children from seeing useful messages.
Lawmakers, for their part, accused the companies of exacerbating social problems. State Representative Erin Keegel said that the algorithms of social media platforms are responsible for narrowing people’s viewpoints by delivering content they agree with.
Despite bipartisan support for the initiative, some lawmakers said it needed refinement. They did not specify what changes were being considered in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Earlier this year, U.S. senators introduced a bill to regulate recommendation algorithms in social networks.
In January, lawmakers proposed to ban the use of targeting in digital advertising on platforms such as Facebook and Google.
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