Big Tech Bashed in Senate Hearing On Protecting Kids Online

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing "Protecting Innocence in a Digital World" July 9 on protecting kids online, and Big Tech came in for further criticism over its handling of the issue. Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he hoped to learn a lot from the witnesses about the perils of social media sites, and the internet in general, for children. He also signaled there would be a follow-on hearing where Big Tech was called to account. 

Professor Angela Campbell of the Institute For Public Representation at Georgetown Law outlined the perils. She told the committee that problems with protecting children's privacy, preventing exposure to inappropriate content, and limiting screen time on digital "vices" stem from two things: 1) The business models of the dominant tech companies, which have not been designed to protect children, but to attract users and keep them so they can monetize their data via targeted marketing; and 2) the fact that the government does not have sufficient safeguards and has not enforced the ones it has. She called out the Federal Trade Commission for not vigorously enforcing the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which she said has empowered Google, YouTube, Facebook and Amazon to "ignore existing safeguards."