It’s Time to Empower Parents to Protect Kids Against Online Dangers
By Lauri Hummel, Richland, SD
Raising kids in today’s digital world is very different than it was when I was raising my children. As a mother and grandmother, I want to do what I can to help keep my grandchildren safe online. The rise in digital dependence brings with it a scary reality — our children need protection from inappropriate content and the potential risks to their safety.
The best way to protect our children is by strengthening parental rights and giving parents accessible resources to address the growing threat to kids online.
Senator Mike Lee’s bill, the App Store Accountability Act, addresses the need to prioritize safety in the digital age. The new piece of legislation would require app stores to introduce parental authorization tools for children downloading apps. According to the Washington Examiner, “the legislation would require app stores such as Apple’s App Store and Google Play to verify the ages of users who are purchasing apps on their platforms.” In a world where harmful information is just clicks away, this extra guardrail would allow parents to take control over what children are exposed to online.
Unfortunately, the well-intentioned work of passing legislation to protect children has opened the door for Washington politicians to sneak in new regulations that would take power away from parents and give it to Washington bureaucrats to decide what is and is not safe for teens.
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is one of these bills. Originally intended to protect children, this bill has ballooned into something much more sinister. Instead of empowering parents and giving them the tools to protect their children, it gives the power to regulate speech online to unelected employees at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
These well-intentioned bills have also spiraled into liberal efforts to limit conservative speech. Giving the FTC the power to regulate speech would grant them the ability to censor voices and violate our first amendment rights. The protection of children should not be used as a tool to take away our most important freedoms.
We should be advocating for the passage of legislation like the App Store Accountability Act. By putting the onus on app stores to empower parents, we avoid two major pitfalls that routinely stall these types of bills, like KOSA, from passing.
First, the App Store Accountability Act doesn’t violate our freedom of speech. Instead, it allows parents, not the government, to decide what is deemed safe and unsafe language and content. KOSA, on the other hand, gives this regulatory power to bureaucrats in Washington with no real regard for our kids here in South Dakota. It concerns me that speech unpopular with people in Washington would be unjustly repressed if KOSA were to pass in Congress.
Second, Senator Lee’s bill empowers parents instead of the federal government. The measure would put parents in the diver’s seat and give them control over what their kid is able to view. I, not the government, know how to best raise my children and grandchildren. Every time the government overreaches its power, politicians in DC take away the freedom of parents and grandparents like me to protect the ones I care about most.
As said in the Washington Examiner, “protecting children online isn’t solely the responsibility of governments or corporations — it requires collaboration from parents, educators, and society as a whole… As technology evolves, so must our strategies to ensure it serves as a tool for growth, not harm.” Any bill put forward in Congress must respect the agency of parents.
Senator Lee’s bill empowers parents to do what they know is best for their children and serves as an alternative to the politically biased and overreaching legislation currently on the docket. I ask Senators Thune and Rounds and Congressman Johnson to support this bill to enhance child safety in this digital age.
Hey, Lauri, I have a better idea; how about supporting neither and just letting parents be the parents instead of trying to insert a government entity into every part of our day-to-day life? Sure, we can apply the age-old adage “for protecting the kids”, but has the government ever really done that? There are a lot of dangers for kids besides the internet. Do we really want to set the precedent that the government will protect them from every danger? I don’t……
why not just take the phones away from the kids?