The Kids Off Social Media Act (S. 278) represents an encouraging, bipartisan step toward protecting America's youth from social media's documented harms. As children become increasingly connected through devices, they face unprecedented risks including sexual exploitation, illicit drug sales, predatory behavior, and algorithmic manipulation designed to foster addiction.
The human cost is devastating. Parents across the nation have lost children to social media-related tragedies, often unaware of the dangers until it was too late. Big Tech has repeatedly demonstrated it cannot be trusted to self-regulate when profits are at stake. The time for congressional action is now.
The bill establishes clear standards: prohibiting social media access for children under 13, restricting algorithmic content targeting for users under 17, and requiring schools to block social media on federally-funded devices. These provisions work to address social media's role in the youth mental health crisis. Most significantly, the Kids Off Social Media Act empowers both the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to enforce these protections, ensuring tech companies face real accountability.
This legislation being championed by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and approved by the Senate Commerce Committee on a bipartisan basis demonstrates that protecting children from social media's dangers transcends political divisions. While technological advances can unlock tremendous potential, we must first ensure basic safeguards for our most vulnerable users.
We urge all Senators to vote in favor of the Kids Off Social Media Act should it reach the Senate floor. Our children deserve a healthy childhood free from algorithmic manipulation and online exploitation. The stakes are simply too high to delay this crucial legislation.