EXCLUSIVE: A brand new invoice from Rep. Chris Stewart would bar social media firms from permitting kids underneath the age of 16 to make use of their platforms, in an try to lend a hand save the declining psychological well being of America’s adolescence because of larger use of TikTok, Instagram and different addictive media apps.
Stewart, R-Utah, presented the “Social Media Child Protection Act,” which will require Big Tech firms to make sure the age in their customers, together with by means of the use of strategies akin to ID verification.
It would additionally give states the authority to deliver civil court cases on behalf of citizens if an organization violates the age prohibit restriction, and creates a “private right of action” for folks on behalf in their kids. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission could be accountable for protecting Big Tech firms to account and implementing fines if violations happen.
Stewart instructed Fox News Digital the theory for the law got here from a non-public revel in of a circle of relatives pal who had a 16-year-old daughter whose closing motion used to be to go away a message for a suicide prevention hotline prior to taking her personal lifestyles. The congressman, a former Air Force pilot, labored to determine the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, which additionally is helping a super collection of U.S. veterans.
TIKTOK, OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA CONTROLLED BY OUR ENEMIES MUST BE BANNED NOW. WE CAN’T WAIT ANY LONGER
Rep. Chris Stewart is introducing law that might bar social media firms from permitting kids underneath the age of 16 to make use of their platforms.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
After the 988 quantity used to be arrange, Stewart grew to become to some other disaster that he says is fueling the psychological well being disaster national: get entry to to addictive social media at too younger of an age.
He mentioned the problem first emerged in 2012, when Facebook purchased Instagram and started advertising and marketing to younger ladies, after which to younger males.
The upward thrust in younger Instagram customers used to be blended with Chinese Communist Party-tied app TikTok commencing national, resulting in the rise of younger Americans get entry to to what the congressman described as “emotional heroin.”
EXPERTS RAMP UP TIKTOK WARNINGS AFTER TOP DEM ADMITS TRUMP WAS RIGHT: ‘THIS IS A CHINESE SPYING APP’
“This [bill] is protecting them from the environment itself and protecting them from the overall immersion that just swallows them up and begins to destroy their value or sense of self-worth,” Stewart defined. “It destroys their sense of hope in the future and makes them feel like, you know, ‘everyone is happy except for me, why aren’t I happy?’ I mean, it’s just a whole list of emotional distresses, and that’s primarily our focus.”
The congressman stated that he “may have to negotiate that to get bipartisan support” at the explicit age restriction of 16, however he’s assured that Democrats gets on board with some model of his invoice.
“We must hold social-media companies accountable for the experiment they are running on our children for profit,” mentioned President Biden in a contemporary op-ed.
(SAUL LOEB/AFP by the use of Getty Images)
He pointed to President Biden’s fresh op-ed within the Wall Street Journal that mentioned Big Tech duty is a space the place “Congress can find common ground” as firms are “pushing content to children that threatens their mental health and safety.”
“We must hold social-media companies accountable for the experiment they are running on our children for profit,” mentioned Biden.
The creation of the brand new invoice comes simply days after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy mentioned kids underneath the age of 13 are “too young” to be on social media, as a result of kids are nonetheless “developing their identity.”
“I, personally, based on the data I’ve seen, believe that 13 is too early … It’s a time where it’s really important for us to be thoughtful about what’s going into how they think about their own self-worth and their relationships and the skewed and often distorted environment of social media often does a disservice to many of those children,” Murthy mentioned in an interview.
“Republicans and Democrats are suspicious of social media for very different reasons,” Rep. Chris Stewart instructed Fox News Digital.
(Muhammed Selim Korkutata/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
“Republicans and Democrats are suspicious of social media for very different reasons,” Stewart instructed Fox News Digital. “But this is one that, you know, you don’t have to be Republican or Democrat. This is just one where you see that something’s wrong with our youth. This is part of the problem. And if you’re a parent, I think that that kind of brings us to a common bond right now.”
Stewart, who sits at the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, known as Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California, who actively makes use of TikTok, “foolish” because of the corporate’s ties to the CCP.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“It’s foolish for anyone, especially in his position, who knows that how China has developed and designed this. It’s foolish for anyone in that position to have a TikTok account and post content,” he mentioned noting that Schiff introduced his Senate candidacy at the platform.
Schiff used to be booted off the Intel Committee by means of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy closing week.
