Washington.- United States President Joe Biden signed a law on Tuesday aimed at protecting children from online abuse and sexual exploitation by imposing fines on technology companies that deliberately fail to report such content hosted on their platforms.
According to a statement from the White House, Biden signed the legislation on Tuesday, automatically putting it into effect after it had been approved unanimously by both the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority, and the House of Representatives, controlled by Republicans.
The bill, spearheaded by Georgia Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff and Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, is the first significant legislation in years to establish enforcement mechanisms and accountability for social media platforms.
Legislation to Protect Children Online: Biden Signs Groundbreaking Law
According to a statement from Jon Ossoff’s office, the legislation, for the first time, requires websites and social media platforms to report crimes related to child trafficking and exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
In addition, the law will increase fines for companies that knowingly and deliberately fail to report child sexual abuse material on their platforms and will also require the preservation of potential evidence of a crime for an extended period, thus giving law enforcement more time to investigate these potential crimes.
“My bipartisan law with Senator Blackburn will ensure tech companies are held accountable to report and remove child sex abuse material and to strengthen protection for kids online,» said Ossoff.
Blackburn emphasized the importance of this legislation being passed at a time when «children are increasingly looking at screens,» which inevitably «leaves more innocent kids at risk of online exploitation.»
Social media companies, such as Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook, are under increasing scrutiny by the US Congress for the impact their use has on minors’ mental health.
According to a 2022 study by the Pew Research Center, 35% of American teens say that social media has a negative impact on their lives.
In addition, some teenagers, especially girls, avoid posting certain things on social media for fear of feeling embarrassed, according to Pew.
