If social media harm children, the CA law should intervene

By an unknown jerk, special for Calmatters

This comment was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

When the pandemic forced us to stop us in 2020, the then Mi-16-year-old daughter decided to use her time at home to improve her health and remain fit.

She was not watching TV or endless games. She was trying to improve herself. She wanted what so many young people wanted: to feel confident, strong and healthy.

But instead of finding positive guidance, she came across a digital trap. She turned to Instagram and Tiktok, looking for terms such as “workouts”, “healthy eating” and “glitter”. In return, her platforms served a stream of dangerous content, such as “Thinspiration“Videos encouraging hunger and harmful, toxic challenges. For days, her food was flooded with pro-anorexia and extreme dietary tips, such as how to” stay under 500 calories a day “and disturbing mantras like how to be thin enough to” fit into a baby swing. “

She has never specifically sought this content, but the algorithms of the platforms aggressively pressed it on it.

What happened further was a devastating and painful example of why we needed Assembly Bill 2A measure of accountability that currently distributes the state capitol. It is transformed by a lively, healthy, athletic teenager into someone we didn’t recognize. My daughter began to secretly restrict food, exercise obsessively and stop at what would become a complete disorder of eating.

Within three months, it was hospitalized with a dangerously low heart rate. The following year, she suffered numerous heart events, dissociative panic attacks and a stationary stay in hospitals and medical centers, including a six -month stay outside the state, which came only after it was critical.

Unfortunately, this story is nothing new. The technical giants that manage social media platforms, many of which are based in my backyard, the silicone valley, are fully aware of the harm caused by their platforms. Corporates from submitting signals have revealed internal studies, proving that 1 in 3 teenage girls report this Instagram worsened the problems of their body imageS Former general of American surgeon Vivek dead pressed to Social media warning labels Because youth depression, anxiety, suicidal idea and self -harm have resurrected so dramatically With the increase in the use of social media.

Forecast 84% of teenagers use social media regularlyS Although it can be a contact and learning tool, it is currently a very common weapon for harm. These platforms are designed to add to and support children to scroll, regardless of what they see.

Great technologies cannot benefit from the pain of our children without a consequence.

AB 2 is the author of AssemblyMember Josh LowentalDemocrat from Long Beach and offers a decisive step towards accountability. This strengthens existing negligence laws in California by adding serious financial penalties – up to $ 1 million to a child’s harm – for major social media companies, if responsible for damages caused by their platform functions. This includes damages that come from the company’s inability to use ordinary care to protect young users, intentionally or not.

This legislation will finally force companies to stop designing their platforms in order to exploit the vulnerabilities of youth. They will be encouraged to apply safety features suitable for age, time restrictions, mental health resources and algorithm precautions that prevent harmful content from being redirected to children as my daughter.

She almost lost her life. My daughter missed years at school, friendships and basic stages, because the algorithm decided that her desire to be “healthy” was an opportunity to push toxic content.

AB 2 can help prevent this from happening to other families. California must accept it and send a clear message that our children are more important than the profits of the technology giant.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.