OLYMPIA, Wash. – A Senate committee advanced a proposal on party lines Thursday to put responsibilities and restrictions on online companies and platforms that serve kids and teens. Supporters say the standards protect children from the documented harms of social media, while opponents argue the bill will not even have a chance to keep kids safe.
Senate Bill 5708 would require companies that provide online services to provide data and privacy protections to all users under 18-years-old. Those protections include not collecting and using a minor’s personal information, not giving them notifications at certain periods of the day and not providing them an “addictive feed” that displays content based on the minor’s information.
Federal law regulates online privacy for children under 13. Recent attempts in Congress to bolster those regulations faltered, and some states have attempted to take the issue into their own hands.
Prime sponsor state Senator Noel Frame (D-Seattle), said her legislation aims to uphold the existing standards for kids under 13 while extending them to those 13 to 17.
“We have all seen the ways that children’s mental health suffers at the expense of the companies that seek to profit off their negative emotions, quite frankly,” she told the Senate Committee on Business, Financial Services and Trade on February 13. “And let’s be honest, it affects all of us too. Any of us that have been on a social media platform knows exactly what we’re talking about with addictive patterns.”
Frame said online platforms need to do more to protect minors from the harms of social media, like those outlined by the U.S. Surgeon General last summer.
On Thursday, all Democrats on the Senate panel voted in favor of moving the bill and its restrictions forward.
“We should take action to protect our kids against what we know are harms that are happening right now,” said state Senator Derek Stanford (D-Bothell).
Groups representing tech companies have come out in opposition to the bill. They raised questions about the constitutionality of the regulations on free speech and interstate commerce grounds. They also point out that similar legislation across the country is being challenged in the courts.
While they expressed support for protecting kids online, committee Republicans also questioned the legality of the restrictions and how feasible they were. Members offered two amendments to the legislation, but they both failed.
Ultimately, they voted against the bill, saying the state should wait before spending money on implementing rules that could be overturned.
“Even if this bill was to pass and the governor was to sign it, we would be assured of it being held up in the courts for at least a couple of years,” said state Senator Phil Fortunato (R-Auburn). “Which means that if our intention is to protect our children, it’s gonna be two years before the courts decide what’s going on.”
The bill now moves to the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which has until February 28 to consider the legislation and whether to move it to the full Senate.
A companion bill in the House is slated for a vote on Friday, though it is not clear at this point which version would be the ultimate vehicle for the regulations to make it into law.
Albert James is a television reporter covering state government as part of the Murrow News Fellowship program – a collaborative effort between news outlets statewide and Washington State University.
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