Durbin Eyes Potential Testimony From Snap, Instagram on Kids’ Safety

Snapchat and Instagram are two companies the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider for testimony at an upcoming hearing on children’s online safety, Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told us Tuesday.

Judiciary members renewed focus at the hearing on several pieces of bipartisan legislation aimed at protecting children on social media. Snapchat is an “obvious” choice, and Instagram is on the radar, Durbin told us after leaving the hearing, in which he said the committee is lining up witnesses for follow-up testimony. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children CEO Michelle DeLaune, medical experts and child safety advocates told the committee at Tuesday’s hearing that social media companies aren’t doing enough to prevent harms to young users.

Durbin mentioned bipartisan support for the Earn It Act, which Judiciary passed by voice vote in February 2022 (see 2202100071). Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., announced their intention to pursue passage again this year. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, also spoke in support of the Earn It Act. Graham told us after the hearing he’s prioritizing passage of a bill with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., which would establish a new federal agency regulating social media.

The bill’s concept is to issue business licenses to major social media companies, and maintaining those licenses would hinge on companies following a set of best business practices, including protection for children, said Graham. Almost every business in America “can be sued or regulated, except for these people,” said Graham: Expect introduction in a matter of weeks, not months. Warren told us: “Every day, the need for this bill grows.”

Blumenthal announced plans for a Democratic bill with Durbin before the hearing Tuesday. Introduced with Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, the Clean Slate for Kids Online Act would establish a legal right “to demand that internet companies delete all personal information that was collected from or about the person when he or she was a child under age 13.” The bill would modify the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. Blumenthal told us that bill complements his bipartisan efforts with Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., on the Kids Online Safety Act, which the Senate Commerce Committee passed unanimously in 2022 (see 2207270057). That all these members are working on various bills and two committees are showing interest means there’s “growing momentum” for protecting children online, said Blumenthal.

“You’re going to see [KOSA] move very quickly,” said Blackburn. “There is definitely a need to get something done.” She cited continued findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and concrete data highlighting social media harms to children, including information on eating disorders and self-harm. Platforms need to make their services “safer by default,” she said during the hearing.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced two bills Tuesday aimed at protecting children online. The Making Age-Verification Technology Uniform, Robust and Effective (Mature) Act would enforce a “minimum age requirement of 16 years old for all users on social media platforms,” and the Federal Social Media Research Act would commission a “government report on the harm of social media for kids.”

Child safety proposals should take a “comprehensive approach that draws on industry expertise in meeting the needs of children and parents,” said Computer & Communications Industry Association President Matt Schruers. “Age-specific regulations that require sites to collect and maintain additional sensitive data on more users, including detailed information on children, in order to comply with the law are counterproductive.”