WASHINGTON—Following a landmark Los Angeles verdict discovering Meta and YouTube liable for negligent platform design that harmed a younger consumer, and a separate ruling in New Mexico discovering Meta violated state regulation relating to client security, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the main assume tank for science and expertise coverage, launched the next assertion from Senior Policy Manager Ash Johnson:
Due to a vacuum left by Congress, courts are stepping in to form youngsters’s on-line security—however litigation is an inefficient and inconsistent option to do it. These instances are a part of a rising wave of authorized strain on social media platforms over the protection of younger customers, however a state-by-state, case-by-case method to youngsters’s on-line security dangers creating insurance policies which have conflicting compliance obligations, overreach on free speech, and fail to deal with all the actual harms youngsters face on-line.
Policymakers shouldn’t permit litigation to exchange regulation. Instead of letting precedent slowly construct over years of pricey trials or a patchwork of state legal guidelines, Congress ought to cross a single federal regulation that prioritizes easy-to-use parental controls and affordable, focused measures to deal with particular harms to youngsters.
Contact: Nicole Hinojosa, [email protected]