Initiative To Protect Youth Mental Health, Safety & Privacy Online
| Published date | 02 October 2023 |
| Citation | 88 FR 67733 |
| Pages | 67733-67739 |
| FR Document | 2023-21606 |
| Section | Notices |
| Issuer | Commerce Department,National Telecommunications and Information Administration,National Telecommunications And Information Administration |
Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 189 (Monday, October 2, 2023)
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 189 (Monday, October 2, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67733-67739]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-21606]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
[Docket No. 230926-0233]
RIN 0660-XC059
Initiative To Protect Youth Mental Health, Safety & Privacy
Online
AGENCY: National Telecommunications and Information Administration,
Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice, request for comment.
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SUMMARY: Preventing and mitigating any adverse health effects from use
of online platforms on minors, while preserving benefits such platforms
have on minors' health and well-being, are critical priorities of the
Biden-Harris Administration. On behalf of the Department of Commerce
and in conjunction with the other members of the United States
government's Task Force on Kids Online Health & Safety, the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) seeks broad
input and feedback from stakeholders on current and emerging risks of
health (including mental health), safety, and privacy harms to minors
arising from use of online platforms. This request also seeks
information about potential health, safety and privacy benefits
stemming from minors' use of online platforms. Finally, we seek input
on current and future industry efforts to mitigate harms and promote
the health, safety and well-being of minors who access these online
platforms. The data gathered through this process will be used to
inform the Biden-Harris Administration's work to advance the health,
safety, and privacy of minors.
DATES: Written comments must be received on or before November 16,
2023.
ADDRESSES: All electronic public comments on this action, identified by
Regulations.gov docket number NTIA-2023-0008, may be submitted through
the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. The
docket established for this request for comment can be found at
www.Regulations.gov, NTIA-2023-0008. To make a submission, click the
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or
attach your comments. Additional instructions can be found in the
``Instructions'' section below after ``Supplementary Information.''
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please direct questions regarding this
Request for Comment to Kids Online team at [email protected] with ``Kids
Online Request for Comment'' in the subject line. If submitting
comments by U.S. mail, please address questions to Ruth Yodaiken,
National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S.
Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC
20230. Questions submitted via telephone should be directed to (202)-
482-4067. Please direct media inquiries to NTIA's Office of Public
Affairs, telephone: (202) 482-7002; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background and Authority
On May 23, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration announced several
key actions to protect the health, safety, and privacy of young people
online, including the formation of an interagency Kids Online Health
and Safety Task Force (Task Force).\1\ The Task Force was developed
primarily in response to concerns about the role that online platforms
have in the ``unprecedented youth mental health crisis'' in the United
States today.\2\
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\1\ White House, Fact Sheet: Biden-Harris Administration
Announces Actions to Protect Youth Mental Health, Safety & Privacy
Online, The White House, (White House Fact Sheet) (May 23,
2023).https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/05/23/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-actions-to-protect-youth-mental-health-safety-privacy-online.
\2\ Id.
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In order to address health and safety concerns related to minors
and the online environment, the Task Force will ``review the status of
existing industry efforts and technologies to promote the health and
safety of children and
[[Page 67734]]
teenagers vis-[agrave]-vis their online activities, particularly with
respect to their engagement in social media and other online
platforms.'' \3\ The Task Force is further charged with developing
voluntary guidance, policy recommendations, and a toolkit on safety-,
health- and privacy-by-design for industry in developing digital
products and services.
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\3\ Id. For the purposes of this Request for Comment, the term
``social media'' and ``online platforms'' encompass a wide array of
modern technology from video sharing networks, such as TikTok,
Twitch and YouTube, to social networks such as Facebook, Instagram.
It includes the many gaming networks in addition to Twitch, such as
Discord, Roblox and Xbox, which allow individuals to interact with
each other through, and adjacent to, games.
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The Task Force is led by the Department of Health and Human
Services in close partnership with the Department of Commerce, through
the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
It is comprised of senior representatives from the Department of
Education, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland
Security, the Federal Trade Commission, the National Institute of
Standards and Technology, the Office of the Surgeon General, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of
Health, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, the Office of
the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, and the White House
Domestic Policy Council, Office of Science and Technology Policy, the
National Economic Council, and the Gender Policy Council.
In announcing the Task Force, the Administration referred to
existing research and reports from news and medical sources, including
an American Psychiatric Association poll finding that ``[m]ore than
half of parents express concern over their children's mental well-
being.'' \4\ The Administration cited ``undeniable evidence that social
media and other online platforms have contributed to our youth mental
health crisis.'' \5\
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\4\ American Psychiatric Association, New APA Poll Shows
Sustained Anxiety Among Americans; More than Half of Parents are
Concerned About the Mental Well-Being of Their Children (May 2,
2021), https://www.psychiatry.org/newsroom/news-releases/new-apa-poll-shows-sustained-anxiety-among-americans-more-than-half-of-parents-are-concerned-about-the-mental-well-being-of-their-children.
\5\ White House Fact Sheet.
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Concurrently, the Surgeon General of the United States issued an
Advisory that labeled the potential harm to American youth stemming
from use of online platforms an ``urgent public health issue,'' citing
``increasing concerns among researchers, parents and caregivers, young
people, healthcare experts, and others about the impact of social media
on youth mental health,'' \6\ and called for action by, among others,
technology and online service providers.\7\ Moreover, there is growing
consensus about the need to fund research to more fully understand the
complexity of the overall impact of social media, and technology use
more generally on youth mental health and socio-emotional and cognitive
development, including differential impacts by developmental stage and
on certain populations of youth. Social media and other online
platforms are nearly ubiquitous, and minors spend substantial amounts
of time using them. Yet, technology and online service providers'
practices, such as design choices and policies regarding data access,
have remained opaque to varying degrees, leaving the scientific
community unable to fully understand the scope and scale of the impact
that social media and other online platforms have had, and continue to
have, on youth mental health and well-being.\8\ As the Surgeon General
stated, action is needed now: ``[C]hildren and adolescents don't have
the luxury of waiting years until we know the full extent of social
media's impact. Their childhoods and development are happening now.''
\9\
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\6\ Dept. Of Health and Human Services, Social Media and Youth
Mental Health--Current Priorities of the U.S. Surgeon General
(Advisory) (May 23, 2023), at 3-4, https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/priorities/youth-mental-health/social-media/index.html.
\7\ Advisory at 13 -20.
\8\ See Dept. of Health and Human Services, Social Media and
Youth Mental health: The U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory (Executive
Summary) (2023), https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/sg-youth-mental-health-social-media-summary.pdf.
\9\ Advisory at 13.
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1. Health, Safety and Privacy: Specific Areas of Concern
Minors' use of social media and other online platforms have
produced an evolving and broad set of concerns, touching on, among
other things, health, safety, and privacy. \10\ These concerns include
impacts upon mental health, brain development, attention span, sleep,
addiction, anxiety, and depression.\11\ These concerns stem from both
the design of the social media environment and the specific types of
content to which minors are exposed, often repeatedly over long periods
of time. Exposure to self-harming and suicide-related content, for
example, have been linked in some cases to deaths of minors.\12\ Some
online material appears to disproportionately affect subgroups of
youth, including racial, ethnic, sexual and gender groups. For example,
evidence shows that such sustained and high volume exposure to online
materials negatively affect girls' self-esteem and body images.\13\
Safety is also an area of concern related to use of online platforms,
particularly the risk of predators targeting minors online for
physical, psychological, and other forms of abuse, including sexual
exploitation, extortion (or sextortion) \14\ and cyberbullying.\15\
Adult and children frequently use the same online platforms,
particularly social media platforms, and that enables adults to readily
engage children who are ill-equipped to understand the adults'
intentions. Parents and guardians, who are called upon to regulate
their children's use of online platforms, are often provided little to
no information about these potential harms. Minors similarly lack the
necessary information.
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\10\ The terms ``minors'' and ``youths'' are used in this
document to describe people under 18 years of age.
\11\ See generally, Advisory.
\12\ See, e.g., Advisory at 8-9; Southern District of Indiana
[verbar] FBI and Partners Issue National Public Safety Alert on
Sextortion Schemes, Department of Justice, (Jan. 19, 2023), https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdin/pr/fbi-and-partners-issue-national-public-safety-alert-sextortion-schemes
\13\ See, e.g., Advisory at 8 (noting the issue of social
comparison).
\14\ See, e.g., Federal Bureau of Investigation, International
Law Enforcement Agencies Issue Joint Warning About Global Financial
Sextortion Crisis, Press Release, (Feb. 7, 2023), https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/international-law-enforcement-agencies-issue-joint-warning-about-global-financial-sextortion-crisis.
\15\ See, generally, StopBullying.gov, What Is Cyberbullying,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it; Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, Adolescent and School Health: Data &
Statistics, https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/index.htm.
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Social media and other online platforms also pose risks to minors
of infringements on privacy, with concerns focused on the particularly
sensitive nature of images and other personally identifiable
information such as educational records, including misuse, minors'
vulnerability to harms from those with access to such information, and,
more generally, minors' exposure to comprehensive surveillance.\16\
Concerns regarding minors' privacy are exacerbated by the rise of data
analytics and tracking tools that collect and make use of large
quantities of personal data,
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often along with offering free or reduced-cost access to online
services.\17\ Youth are among those most affected by the state of the
industry and can be targeted specifically.\18\ In addition, as noted
above, data -- especially if not secured properly--can be misused by
predators for criminal or other purposes. Ongoing developments in
communications and information-processing technologies, including rapid
advances in artificial intelligence capabilities and use, might produce
new risks to minors' privacy, health and safety. For example, earlier
this year, there were many news reports about an AI-powered chatbot
that gave out what seemed to be harmful advice in response to inquiries
about getting help for eating disorders.\19\
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\16\ See, e.g., Advisory at 9; National Telecommunications and
Information Administration, Comments of NTIA Regarding Commercial
Surveillance ANPR R1104 Before the Federal Trade Commission, FTC
Docket 2022-0053, at 14-16, 20-21, https://ntia.gov/sites/default/files/publications/ftc_commercial_surveillance_anpr_ntia_comment_final.pdf.
\17\ See, e.g., Federal Trade Commission, Commercial
Surveillance and Data Security Rulemaking, https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/federal-register-notices/commercial-surveillance-data-security-rulemaking (providing links to the
Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in that area and related
material). For information about how design has been used to
manipulate content generally, including to keep people engaged
online and to influence online decisions, see, e.g., Arunesh Mathur,
et al., Dark Patterns at Scale: Findings from a Crawl of 11K
Shopping websites, Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer
Interaction, Vol 3, Issue CSCW, Article No.: 81 (Sept. 20, 2019),
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3359183.
\18\ See, e.g., Statement of Frances Haugen, United States
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, (Oct. 4,
2021), https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/FC8A558E-824E-4914-BEDB-3A7B1190BD49; See, also, Federal Trade Commission Proposes
Blanket Prohibition Preventing Facebook from Monetizing Youth Data,
Press Release (May 3, 2023), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/05/ftc-proposes-blanket-prohibition-preventing-facebook-monetizing-youth-data (regarding FTC changes to a privacy
order with Facebook after alleged violations).
\19\ See, e.g., Lauren McCarthy, A Wellness Chatbot is Offline
After its `Harmful'' Focus on Weight Loss, The New York Times (June.
8, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/08/us/ai-chatbot-tessa-eating-disorders-association.html?smid=url-share; Center for
Countering Digital Hate, AI and Eating Disorders: How Generative AI
Enables and Promotes Harmful Eating Disorder Content (Aug. 7, 2023),
https://counterhate.com/research/ai-tools-and-eating-disorders.
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2. Benefits
While social media and other online platforms pose risks to minors,
these offerings also can facilitate and provide immense benefits for
minors. The Biden Administration, through NTIA and other agencies, is
engaged in an historic initiative to bring robust and affordable
internet access to all Americans. This project will allow greater youth
participation in the modern digital economy, open access to increased
digital learning opportunities and after-school activities, broaden
access to health care (including telehealth), enhance civic engagement,
help students participate in a wide range of activities, and more.\20\
Health or other benefits that social media and related platforms offer
to many youth include, for example, creating space for self-expression,
developing and sustaining social connections, providing skill-building
opportunities and buffering against negative conduct and speech, and
providing online emergency services.\21\ The Surgeon General's Advisory
noted that access to online platforms is ``especially important for
youth who are often marginalized, including racial, ethnic, and sexual
and gender minorities.'' \22\
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\20\ More on this topic can be found on the NTIA web page on
High-Speed internet, https://www.ntia.gov/category/high-speed-internet.
\21\ See, e.g., Advisory at 6.
\22\ See, e.g., id.; see also Common Sense Media, Teens and
Mental Health: How Girls Really Feel About Social Media (Mar 30,
2023), https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/how-girls-really-feel-about-social-media-researchreport_web_final_2.pdf.
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3. Efforts To Assess and Address Risks, and Mitigate Harms
The Task Force is charged with exploring ways to assess and address
risks and harms to minors online. Among other things, the Task Force
will evaluate how best to harness technology for these purposes and
will consider best practices for social media and online platforms and
their use.\23\ For many years, individuals and organizations around the
globe have been working to identify specific risks and harms posed by
evolving technologies and to explore methods and mechanisms to mitigate
such harms.\24\ Congress has been exploring these issues through
hearings and legislative proposals.\25\ Similarly, legislators in
states, such as California and Texas, have been adopting measures to
try to spur changes among social media and other companies.\26\
Provisions being explored include the use of default settings, adoption
of particular privacy features, and further use of age gates (limiting
access by age).
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\23\ White House Fact Sheet (``Children are subject to the
platforms' excessive data collection, which they use to deliver
sensational and harmful content and troves of paid advertising. And
online platforms often use manipulative design techniques embedded
in their products to promote addictive and compulsive use by young
people to generate more revenue. Social media use in schools is
affecting students' mental health and disrupting learning. Advances
in artificial intelligence could make these harms far worse,
especially if not developed and deployed responsibly. Far too often,
online platforms do not protect minors who use their products and
services, even when alerted to the abuses experienced online.'').
\24\ See, e.g., Pew Research Center, Teens, Social Media and
Technology 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022.
\25\ See, e.g., Kids Online Safety Act, S. 1409, 118th Cong.
(2023), as amended and posted by the Senate Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation on July 27, 2023; see, also, Time
Change: Protecting Our Children Online, Hearing Before the Senate
Committee on the Judiciary (Feb. 14, 2023), https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/protecting-our-children-online; Kids Online During COVID: Child Safety in an
Increasingly Digital Age, Hearing Before the House of
Representatives Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce
(Committee on Energy and Commerce), (Mar. 11, 2021), https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=111298.
\26\ See, e.g., California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, AB
2273 (2022), https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2273; Securing Children
Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act, H.B. 18 (2023).
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Many agencies represented on the Task Force have taken actions
designed to advance minors' interests to protect their health, safety
and privacy online. The Department of Commerce is working to ``promote
efforts to prevent online harassment and abuse'' of youth by increasing
awareness and support for youth victims, among other efforts.\27\ While
not targeted at youth, the National Institute of Standards and
Technology has worked with industry to improve ID verification and
authentication that might be relevant to age verification.\28\ The
Federal Trade Commission, which enforces the Childrens Online Privacy
Protection Act (COPPA), is assessing data surveillance practices both
generally and with specific regard to minors.\29\ The Department of
Education, which enforces the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
(FERPA), is pursuing initiatives focused on privacy of students using
digital technology for education.\30\ The Department of Justice
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and the Department of Homeland Security are working to enhance their
efforts to, among other things, (i) identify and prosecute those who
sexually exploit children online, (ii) identify, rescue, and provide
support to children who have been sexually victimized, (iii) provide
some transparency and accountability concerning the online harms
children face every day, and (iv) undertake education and prevention
efforts to help children avoid becoming victims of sexual exploitation.
\31\ The National Institutes of Health, in accordance with the CAMRA
Act, supports biomedical and behavioral science research to study the
health impacts of digital media exposure on youth, which may include
the positive and negative effects of exposure to and use of media,
(such as social media, applications, websites), to better understand
the relationships between media and technology use and individual
differences and characteristics of children and to assess the impact of
media on youth over time.\32\
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\27\ White House Fact Sheet.
\28\ See, e.g., National Institute of Standards and Technology,
Digital Identity Guidelines, Initial Public Draft SP 800-63-4 (Dec.
16, 2022), https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/63/4/ipd.
\29\ See, e.g., Federal Trade Commission, Trade Regulation Rule
on Commercial Surveillance and Data Security; Advance Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Public Comment, Public Forum, 87 FR
51273 (Aug. 22, 2022), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/08/22/2022-17752/trade-regulation-rule-on-commercial-surveillance-and-data-security; Federal Trade Commission, FTC Seeks
Comments on Children's Online Privacy Protection Act Rule, Press
Release (July 25, 2019), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/07/ftc-seeks-comments-childrens-online-privacy-protection-act-rule; Federal Trade Commission, FTC Extends Deadline
for Comments on COPPA Rule until December 11, Press Release (Dec. 9,
2019), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/12/ftc-extends-deadline-comments-coppa-rule-until-december-11.
\30\ White House Fact Sheet (noting also that ``[s]ocial media
use in schools is affecting students' mental health and disrupting
learning''); see also The Washington Post, Students Can't Get Off
Their Phones. Schools Have Had Enough: Administrators See Them As an
Intensifying Distraction -- Or, Worse, a Tax on Students' Mental
Health, (May 9, 2023), https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/05/09/school-cellphone-ban-yondr).
\31\ White House Fact Sheet (highlighting DOJ and DHS effort
with National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)).
\32\ H.R.2161--117th Congress (2021-2022): CAMRA Act, https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/2161/text?r=16&s=1;
Senators Markey, Bipartisan Colleagues Celebrate Passage of CAMRA
Act to Fund Research on Impact of Tech on Childhood Development
(senate.gov), https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-markey-bipartisan-colleagues-celebrate-passage-of-camra-act-to-fund-research-on-impact-of-tech-on-childhood-development
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All around the world, nation-states, civil society organizations,
and researchers are working to determine how best to keep children and
teens safe while maximizing the benefits of social media and other
online platforms.\33\ For example, the United Kingdom's age-appropriate
design codes incorporate such elements as prohibiting the use of
techniques to manipulate minors into agreeing to give up some
privacy.\34\ Parents, guardians, caregivers and advocates for youth
have taken up the mantle.\35\ In addition, researchers across a range
of disciplines have identified methods and approaches to embedding and
respecting societal values through the design, deployment,
configuration, and regulation of technical systems.\36\ In particular,
researchers developed methods and tools to identify and define such
values and account for potential harms, including physical and mental
health concerns arising from design choices, and those efforts are
relevant to children's wellbeing.\37\ Businesses and associations,
including those in the technology sector, have taken some steps to
assess and address these problems.\38\ For example, as the UK's age-
appropriate design laws took effect, TikTok turned off nighttime
notifications for children.\39\ Other companies offer age-verification
tools, parental controls,\40\ and/or guidance for parents and guardians
seeking to protect minors online.\41\ YouTube offers a separate
application for children under 13, which allows parents to limit
minors' screen time and disable some search capabilities.\42\ Industry
can, however, do more to protect American children and teens online.
Reports and recommendations focused on youth social media and online
platforms often include recommendations for the tech sector.\43\ The
Surgeon General's Advisory included requests for more access to tech
companies' data for health research and urged these companies to
develop ``platforms, products, and tools that foster safe and healthy
online environments for youth, keeping in mind the needs of girls,
racial, ethnic, and sexual and gender minorities.'' \44\
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\33\ See, e.g., (European Union) Digital Services Act,
Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the
Council on a Single Market for Digital Services and amending
Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Services Act), Oct. 19, 2022),
(including prohibitions on targeted adverts to children), https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/digital-services-act-ensuring-safe-and-accountable-online-environment_en; (UK) Information Commissioner's
Office, Age Appropriate Design: A Code of Practice for Online
Services, https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/childrens-information/childrens-code-guidance-and-resources/age-appropriate-design-a-code-of-practice-for-online-services/executive-summary.
\34\ See, (UK) Information Commissioner's Office, Age
Appropriate Design: A Code of Practice for Online Services, Code
Standards, # 13, Nudge Techniques (``Do not use nudge techniques to
lead or encourage children to provide unnecessary personal data or
weaken or turn off their privacy protections''), https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/childrens-information/childrens-code-guidance-and-resources/age-appropriate-design-a-code-of-practice-for-online-services/code-standards.
\35\ See, e.g., The Student Data Privacy Project, https://www.studentdataprivacyproject.com/
\36\ See, e.g., Batya Friedman, Peter H. Kahn, and Alan Borning.
2008. Value Sensitive Design and Information Systems. In The
Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics, Kenneth Einar Himma and
Herman T. Tavani (eds.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, USA,
69-101. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470281819.ch4; Lara Houston,
Steven J Jackson, Daniela K Rosner, Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Meg Young,
and Laewoo Kang. 2016. Values in Repair. In Proceedings of the 2016
CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems--CHI '16, ACM
Press, New York, New York, USA, 1403-1414. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858470
\37\ See, e.g., Jina Huh-Yoo, Afsaneh Razi, Diep N. Nguyen,
Sampada Regmi, and Pamela J. Wisniewski. 2023. ``Help Me:''
Examining Youth's Private Pleas for Support and the Responses
Received from Peers via Instagram Direct Messages. In Proceedings of
the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI
'23), Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1-14.
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581233; Marie Louise Juul
S[oslash]ndergaard, Marianela Ciolfi Felice, and Madeline Balaam.
2021. Designing Menstrual Technologies with Adolescents. In
Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing
Systems, ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1-14. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445471
\38\ See, e.g., Microsoft, New Microsoft Research Illustrates
the Online Risks and Value of Safety Tools to Keep Kids Safer in the
Digital Environment, Microsoft On the Issues (Feb. 2, 2023), https:/
/blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2023/02/06/safer-internet-day-global-online-safety-survey-2023; Instagram, Continuing to Make
Instagram Safer for the Youngest Members of Our Community (Updated
May 19, 2023), https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/continuing-to-make-instagram-safer-for-the-youngest-members-of-our-community; Snapchat, Family Center--Parental Control For Teens,
Snapchat Safety, https://values.snap.com/safety/family-center (last
visited Aug. 10, 2023) (noting it lets parents see who's on their
child's friends list and who they kids are talking to, but not what
they are saying); Twitch, Guide for Parents & Educators, https://safety.twitch.tv/s/article/Guide-Parents-Educators?language=en_US
(last visited Aug. 10, 2023) (offering no parental controls, but,
instead, guidance); Minecraft, Understanding Minecraft Social
Features for Child Safety Online, Minecraft Help, https://help.minecraft.net/hc/en-us/articles/360058605852-Understanding-Minecraft-Social-Features-for-Child-Safety-Online (last visited Aug.
10, 2023) (noting that some versions of the game automatically
censors swear words).
\39\ E.g., Alex Hern, Social Media Giants Increase Global Child
Safety After UK Regulations Introduced, The Guardian (Sept. 5,
2021), https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/sep/05/social-media-giants-increase-global-child-safety-after-uk-regulations-introduced.
\40\ See, e.g., Roblox, Experience Guidelines, Documentation--
Roblox Creator Hub, https://create.roblox.com/docs/production/promotion/experience-guidelines (last visited Aug. 10, 2023).
\41\ See., e.g., Discord, Tips for Parents on Helping Your Teen
Stay Safe on Discord, https://discord.com/safety/360044153831-helping-your-teen-stay-safe-on-discord (last visited Aug. 10, 2023);
and Answering Parents' and Educators' Top Questions, Question 7--How
C can I monitor what my teen is doing in Discord, https://discord.com/safety/360044149591-answering-parents-and-educators-top-questions#title-7 (last visited Aug. 10, 2023).
\42\ YouTube, YouTube Kids--Parent Resources: Tips and Tools for
Your Family https://www.youtube.com/intl/ALL_us/kids/parent-resources (last visited Aug. 10, 2023).
\43\ See also, Neil Richards and Oliver Khairallah, The Privacy
Advisor: Digital Child Protection is Not Censorship, International
Association of Privacy Professionals (June 15, 2023), https://iapp.org/news/a/digital-child-protection-is-not-censorship.
\44\ Advisory at 15 (noting what policy makers can do about
access to data) and 16 (listing what tech companies can do).
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II. Objectives of This Notice
This Notice offers an opportunity for all interested parties to
provide vital input and recommendations for consideration in the Task
Force's work.
[[Page 67737]]
NTIA seeks public input and feedback from a wide array of stakeholders,
including parents, guardians and caregivers; educators and
administrators; scientists and technologists; youth advocates;
regulators and law enforcement; civil advocates and those in the
advertising and business communities, including influencers and those
involved with social media and online platforms; experts on relevant
medical, legal, and other matters pertinent to the Task Force's
mandate; and other interested parties. This input will inform the Task
Force's recommendations and future work.
III. Instructions for Commenters
NTIA welcomes input on any matter that commenters believe is
important to the Kids Online Health and Safety Task Force's efforts to
review how use of, and exposure to, social media and other online
platforms impact the health and well-being (including safety and
privacy) of youth. Further, NTIA seeks feedback on current industry
practices, and ways that the private sector, parents and guardians, the
U.S. government, and any other party might improve the current status
quo.
Commenters are invited to comment on the full range of issues
presented by this RFC and are encouraged to address any or all of the
following questions, or to provide additional information relevant to
the Task Force. As noted above, much work has been done in specific
areas identified below. This Request for Comment seeks to supplement
that work, rather than repeat it, and to draw out the works or ideas
that might be useful for discussion.
This request particularly welcomes comment providing or advancing
thinking as to: (1) identification of the health, safety and privacy
risks and benefits for minors from the use of online platforms and
services; (2) information on the status of industry efforts and
technology, (3) practical solutions to the specific identified issues,
and (4) guidance to parents, guardians, and caregivers that is based
upon rigorous evaluation and has been shown to be effective in
specific, articulated ways.
The term ``social media and other online platforms'' could
encompass many services and technologies. These include, among others,
platforms set up as social media, gaming platforms and interactive
games (even if decentralized), online platforms or websites that host
postings of video and other content, and even search engines could be
viewed as advertising platforms. However, the relevant items for
discussion are how the various types of social media and other online
platforms are tied to minors' safety, health, and privacy. Similarly,
commenters are asked to differentiate, where appropriate, the
categories to be specific about the types of social media and other
online platforms and the specific types of harm they are describing as
they discuss various aspects of this topic, including which minors that
they are referencing.
The questions below cover issues that could affect youth of all
ages, from toddlers to adolescents. This Request for Comment is meant
to be all-encompassing, and the terms ``minors'' and ``youths'' are
used in this document to describe people under 18 years of age.
However, it is helpful to note with some specificity if particular
harms or solutions, for example, are more relevant to specific
demographic or age groups or youths with accessibility requirements
benefit in particular (for example, blind youth, low-income youth, or
youth affiliated by gender, sexuality, race, or religion).
Commenters are not required to respond to all questions. When
responding to one or more of the questions below, please note in the
text of your response the number of the question to which you are
responding. Commenters are welcome to provide specific actionable
proposals, rationales, and relevant facts. Commenters should include a
page number on each page of their submissions. Please note that for
this comment, because of the volumes of material already available in
this area, NTIA is requesting concise comments that are at most fifteen
(15) single-spaced pages. Commenters are welcome to provide citations
to other work detailing particular areas of concern, studies, or
solutions.
Please do not include in your comments information of a
confidential nature, such as sensitive personal information or
proprietary information. All comments received are a part of the public
record and will generally be posted to Regulations.gov without change.
All personal identifying information (e.g., name, address) voluntarily
submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Information
obtained as a result of this notice may be used by the federal
government for program planning on a non-attribution basis.
Identifying Health, Safety, and Privacy Risks and Potential Benefits
1. What are the current and emerging risks of harm to minors
associated with social media and other online platforms?
a. What harms or risks of harm do social media and other online
platforms facilitate with respect to, or impose upon, minors?
b. What are the specific design characteristics that most likely
lead to behavior modifications leading to harms or risks?
c. What information concerning platform safety is provided to
parents, care givers, and children by providers? Where is that
information found? Where could it be located that would provide the
best avenue to reach parents, care givers, and children?
d. For each harm or risk identified, please note whether imposition
of such harm or risk is currently subject to civil or criminal legal
sanction, and, if so, whether these existing legal frameworks
adequately deter and/or penalize such imposition.
e. Are these harms evenly distributed? Or do they accrue
disproportionately to certain demographic or age groups or youths with
accessibility requirements (for example, based on gender, sexuality,
age, race, or religion)?
f. Is the likelihood of these harms enhanced, facilitated,
incentivized, created, or alleviated by technical design
characteristics, business arrangements, or other contingent factors?
g. Conversely, are the factors that facilitate harms and risks in
this area inherent in social media and other online platforms'
offerings?
h. Do specific applications of artificial intelligence and/or other
emerging technologies exacerbate or help alleviate certain harms or
risks of harm in this area? If so, which and how?
2. Are there particular market conditions or incentives built into
the market structure that enhance or deter benefits and/or harms that
should be addressed and/or encouraged?
3. What are the current and emerging health and other benefits--or
potential benefits--to minors associated with social media and other
online platforms (including to physical, cognitive, mental, and socio-
emotional well-being)? \45\
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\45\ As the Instructions note, this Request for Comment seeks to
supplement work that has already been done in this area, rather than
repeat it, and to draw out the works or ideas that might be useful
for discussion. Including references to existing work is helpful.
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a. Are these benefits generally available to most minors? Do minors
in specific demographic or age groups or youths with accessibility
requirements benefit in particular (for example, blind youth, low-
income youth, or youth
[[Page 67738]]
affiliated by gender, sexuality, race, or religion)?
b. Is there a particularly sensitive developmental period during
which minors are more likely to obtain certain benefits?
4. Do particular technical design characteristics, business
arrangements, or other contingent factors for some online platforms
allow for or enhance the benefits referenced in Question 3?
a. Are those characteristics or factors inherent in social media
and other online platforms' offerings?
b. Conversely, are there particular characteristics or factors that
impede access to the beneficial aspects of social media and other
online platforms? Are there barriers to making design elements
available across multiple platforms?
5. Are there ways that young people have been or could be involved
in making improvements to the health and safety of online platforms
including social media that you think should be encouraged?
a. What are best practices in youth involvement in making
improvements to the design and use of online platforms including social
media? What roles did youth play? What roles did adults play? What has
been the impact of these efforts?
b. What suggestions do you have for youth involvement in making
improvements to online platforms including social media? Please be as
specific as possible.
The Status of Current Practices
6. What practices and technologies do social media and other online
platform providers employ today that exert a significant positive or
negative effect on minors' health, safety, and privacy?
a. What practices and technologies do specific social media and
other online platform providers employ today for assessing, preventing,
and mitigating harms? What specific practices for being especially
effective or ineffective?
b. Do the practices referenced in Queston [5a] impose unintended
consequences? If so, what are they, and how can they be mitigated?
c. Have the practices of social media and other online platforms
evolved over time to enhance or undercut minors' health and safety,
including their privacy, in ways that should be taken into account for
future efforts? If so, how? For example, what factors have been
significant in shaping any such evolution that are likely to have
similar bearing on the future of industry practices?
d. What are the relative roles played by shifts in norms, business
and economic circumstances, legal mandates, scientific and social
scientific consensus, and/or other relevant factors? Which of these
factors shape practices the most and how?
7. What is the impact of dark patterns or design on minors' health
and safety, including their privacy (for example, being addictive,
extended online use, making wrong decisions, or taking incorrect
actions)?
8. Do platform providers' practices or technologies
disproportionately benefit or harm certain specific demographic or age
groups or youths with accessibility requirements benefit in particular
(for example, blind youth, low-income youth, or youth affiliated by
gender, sexuality, race, or religion)? How should that be factored into
any best practices and/or other recommendations that this Task Force
might explore?
9. Do the practices currently employed by social media and other
online platforms of relevance to this inquiry differ materially between
organizations and entities or are they similar? If they are different
what is the source of the disparities? If they mirror one another, what
is the source of the similarities? For example, do differences and
similarities stem principally from various business models, legal
frameworks, commonly used technologies, key decision-makers, or other
factors?
10. Among the practices currently employed by social media and
other online platforms, which ones best maximize benefits to minors'
health, safety, and/or privacy while minimizing the risk or imposition
of harm? How do they do so?
a. Could these practices be adopted, in whole or in part, by other
platforms?
b. What modifications, if any, would be required before they could
be adopted by other platforms?
c. What are the most significant barriers to adoption and
implementation of such practices by other platforms, and what are the
most significant incentives for other platforms to adopt these
practices?
d. How do these practices work in concert with other practices to
protect and advance minors' online health, safety, and/or privacy?
11. Are there potential best practices (for example, practices
related to design, testing, or configuration) or policies that are not
currently employed by social media and other online platforms that
should be considered?
12. How can such policies or best practices be best tailored in the
future to different ages and stages of a child's emotional and
cognitive development?
Identifying Technical Barriers to, and Enablers of, Kids' Online
Health, Safety, and Privacy
13. Are there technical design choices employed by specific social
media platforms and other online platforms or supported by research
that should be adopted by other social media and other online platforms
to advance minors' health, safety, and/or privacy online?
a. If so, what are the best ways to promote or ensure adoption of
such practices?
b. Are new entrants able to offer innovation in this area or are
there barriers (for example, relating to interoperability demands or
the need for scale) that hamper such innovation?
14. Are there technical tools or supports that could be used by
platforms to improve minors' health, safety, and/or privacy online,
whether or not they are in use today?
a. What technical options or tools could be used to advance minors'
health, safety, and/or privacy online? If available, why have they not
previously been offered or facilitated by social media and/or other
online platform providers? For example, are there factors other than
health and safety at issue, or are there concerns about the effect on
access to information?
b. What steps, if any, must be taken to facilitate platform
providers' expanded use of technical solutions to improve minors'
online health, safety, and/or privacy?
15. Are there technical options that could assist parents,
guardians, caregivers, and minors by reducing potential for harm and/or
increasing potential for beneficial aspects of social media and other
online platforms?
Identifying Proposed Guidance and/or Policies
16. What guidance, if any, should the United States government
issue to advance minors' health, safety, and/or privacy online?
a. What guidance, if any, might assist parents, guardians,
caregivers and others in protecting the health, safety, and privacy of
minors who use online platforms, including possible tools, their usage
and potential drawbacks?
b. What type of guidance, if any, might be offered to social media
or other online platforms either generally or to specific categories of
such?
c. What are the benefits or downsides of the U.S. government
offering such guidance, and which agencies or offices within the
government are best positioned to do so?
d. How best can we ensure that such guidance reflects the evolving
[[Page 67739]]
consensus of experts across relevant fields, including the mental
health and medical community, technical experts, child development
experts, parents and caregiver groups, and other stakeholders dedicated
to advancing the interests of minors, and so on?
e. How best can the U.S. government encourage compliance with any
guidance issued to advance minors' health, safety, and/or privacy
online?
17. What policy actions could be taken, whether by the U.S.
Congress, federal agencies, enforcement authorities, or other actors,
to advance minors' online health, safety, and/or privacy? What specific
regulatory areas of focus would advance protections?
18. How best can the U.S. government establish long-term
partnerships with social media and other online platform providers to
ensure that evolving needs with respect to minors' online health,
safety, and/or privacy are addressed as quickly as possible?
Identifying Unique Needs of Specific Communities
19. With respect to any of the questions posed above, are there
ways in which the response would be different for specific demographic
or age groups or youths with accessibility requirements (for example,
blind youth, low-income youth, or youth affiliated by gender,
sexuality, race, or religion)? If so, how?
Reliable Sources of Concrete Information
20. What are the best sources of scientifically sound evidence that
should be consulted in any review of this topic, including those about
benefits, risks, harms, and best practices with respect to social media
and other online offerings?
a. In particular, what are the best sources for information
regarding the relationship between platform providers' practices and
minors' health, safety, and/or privacy?
b. Would it be helpful to have a particular trusted source for
relevant information in this area? For example, would it be helpful if
resources were provided by a medical association or a special
government office?
c. What are the most effective ways for platforms to gather and
provide useful information through transparency reports or audits
related to online harms to the health, safety, and/or privacy of youth?
21. What scientifically sound evidence regarding the matters raised
in this Request for Comment is lacking? What guidance that is not
currently available would an expert expect or want for research?
a. What are areas we have not included here that are important for
developing a research agenda regarding online harms and health benefits
to minors?
22. Should platforms provide more data to researchers and, if so,
what would that kind of data sharing look like, what kind of data would
be most useful, how would it account for the privacy of users, and what
are the best models for sharing data, while also safeguarding users and
their privacy?
Additional Material
NTIA welcomes any additional input that stakeholders believe will
prove useful to our efforts.
Dated: September 26, 2023.
Stephanie Weiner,
Chief Counsel, National Telecommunications and Information
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2023-21606 Filed 9-29-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-60-P
