"What the industry has done as a whole so far is not sufficient," said Alan Davidson, right, assistant secretary of commerce and co-chair of a Biden administration task force on internet safety for children.
It comes as federal and state lawmakers have struggled to implement new safeguards for children online through legislation, drawing opposition from tech industry groups who argue those efforts infringe on free speech and would force companies to collect more data on users. The scope of the report extends beyond social media, with the administration also urging action to curb “addictive” design features across mobile video games.Summary is AI-generated, newsroom-reviewed.Alvaro Bedoya, a Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission who sat on the task force, said the report largely sidesteps debates about speech online and instead focuses on how “social media is designed to encourage young people to stay online longer than they want to be.
Congressional efforts to expand safety and privacy protections online, meanwhile, have languished on Capitol Hill despite drawing broad bipartisan support.