By PATRICIA LEVESQUE
Guest Columnist
In what feels like the blink of an eye, the digital landscape has shifted from a tool for connection to a sophisticated environment designed to capture and monetize children’s attention.
This legislative session, Indiana lawmakers have crafted a bill that would protect minors from the many harms associated with social media, while also working to stop the addictive nature of these platforms.
It is the right thing to do – creating a defense mechanism against constant digital overreach that is distracting our kids from real life at best and endangering their mental health and physical safety in the worst situations.
Unfortunately, lawmakers recently removed these critical guardrails from the bill before it moved from the Indiana Senate to the Indiana House. We are calling on House lawmakers to restore these safeguards and ensure they become law this year.
Big tech companies have proven time and again they are not willing to protect kids, which means it’s time for states to step up and step in. This is not a theoretical argument. It’s supported by internal documentation from the platforms themselves.
Recent evidence, including disclosures from litigation against Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta, paints a disturbing picture of corporate negligence. Internal records suggest that platforms have operated under multi-strike policies for accounts linked to human trafficking and failed to wall-off users flagged for inappropriate interaction with children.
In 2023, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a lawsuit against Meta aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse, online solicitation, and human trafficking.
“I am committed to using every available tool to put an end to these horrific practices and I will hold companies – and their executives – accountable whenever they put profits ahead of children’s safety,” he said when the lawsuit was filed.
In many cases, algorithms carefully designed to keep users addicted facilitated these interactions. That’s because these corporations only care about clicks and engagement, often at the direct expense of child safety. Research indicates that a significant percentage of minors are solicited by adult strangers shortly after creating accounts, yet platforms continue to utilize addictive feeds designed to bypass the impulse control of developing adolescent brains.
Furthermore, internal data show that these platforms exacerbate body dysmorphia, eating disorders, and self-harm, particularly among teenage girls. Policymakers have long respected parents’ responsibility to oversee digital safety on a case-by-case basis for their own children; however, there is a vast power imbalance between individual families and a trillion-dollar industry. Strong state policy can help right the ship.
When platforms use sophisticated artificial intelligence to keep children scrolling, they undermine both parental authority and public health. Indiana lawmakers have a clear opportunity to rebalance this equation by strengthening age-verification and parental consent requirements and providing a clear standard of digital maturity similar to age-based protections we apply to other high-risk activities.
Indiana can be a leader in the national digital safety movement, and lawmakers should be motivated by the pressing need to address rising rates of youth depression and tech-exploitation.
The Indiana House has the power to decide whether the state will prioritize the business models of Big Tech over the health and welfare of its youngest citizens. Restoring these protections is the only responsible path to ensure the digital world has the boundaries necessary to protect the next generation of Hoosiers.
Patricia Levesque is the Executive Director of ExcelinEd in Action.