FTC Provides Comments to FCC on Protecting Children in Traditional and New Media Environments

The Federal Trade Commission explains how it helps to keep children safe in both fast-changing online environments - from computers to game consoles to mobile phones - and the traditional media, through comments submitted to the Federal Communications Commission.

The FTC's written comments describe its authority to enforce laws that protect children in media environments; its recent studies examining how food, beverages, and entertainment are marketed to children; and its consumer education campaigns for parents, children, and educators about becoming media savvy. For example, the Commission recently released Net Cetera: Chatting With Kids About Being Online, a booklet to help parents talk to children about Internet safety. The FTC also is developing a multimedia initiative designed to promote advertising literacy among tweens, along with a school curriculum. The FTC comments are submitted in response to an FCC Notice of Inquiry titled Empowering Parents and Protecting Children in an Evolving Media Landscape. As part of this inquiry, the FCC is collecting information so it can help parents to teach their children to take advantage of new media opportunities without accessing inappropriate content or making inappropriate contact with individuals while online. According to the FTC's comments, the agency's recent studies all recommend that industry participants (and media companies involved in children's marketing) engage in greater self-regulation to protect children. The comments also describe a recent FTC report on the incidence of sexually and violently explicit content in online virtual worlds and the report's recommendations for reducing children's risk of exposure to explicit content in these worlds.