Talkin’ (Policy) Shop: Making Social Media Safe for Kids

On this episode of Talkin’ (Policy) Shop, Oren and Chris discuss how to protect kids online. Children who use social media are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression, and self-harm, are more vulnerable to exploitation, and are more at risk of exposure to dangerous or illicit material. Parents, meanwhile, are unable to adequately protect their children from these harms. That’s where policymakers can step in to protect children online the same way we do in the real world.Further Reading:American Compass policy brief: Making Social Media Safe for KidsProtecting Children from Social Media (Chris Griswold, National Affairs)Governing After a Revolution (Oren Cass, American Compass)The Dangerous Experiment on Teen Girls (Jonathan Haidt, The Atlantic)How Changing One Law Could Protect Kids from Social Media (Yuval Levin, The New York Times) An Online Age-Verification System (American Compass policy brief)Kids Online Safety Act (Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal)Protecting Kids on Social Media Act (Senators Tom Cotton, Brian Schatz, Chris Murphy, and Katie Britt)