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Medical copays reduce health care access in MS prisons; Israel planted explosives in pagers sold to Hezbollah according to official sources; Serving looks with books: Libraries fight 'fast fashion' by lending clothes; Menhaden decline threatens Virginia's ecosystem, fisheries.

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JD Vance calls for toning down political rhetoric, while calls for his resignation grow because of his own comments. The Secret Service again faces intense criticism, and a right to IVF is again voted down in the US Senate.

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A USDA report shows a widening gap in rural versus urban health, a North Carolina county remains divided over a LGBTQ library display, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz' policies are spotlighted after his elevation to the Democratic presidential ticket.

Experts: CA Must Act Now to Protect Youth from Social Media Dangers

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Monday, May 9, 2022   

As children grow up, parents and caregivers across California face the difficult decision of how to oversee social media use. But is that decision made harder by a lack of legal protections for children in the Golden State?

Marc Berkman is CEO of the California-based nonprofit Organization for Social Media Safety. He said he believes Sacramento needs to act now to better protect youth from social media cyber-bullying, substance abuse, and even human trafficking.

"Our main legislative focus right now is on Sammy's Law," said Berkman. "Require social media platforms to give parents the choice to use third-party safety software, to get alerts when dangerous content comes across their child's social media accounts."

Berkman said the Organization for Social Media Safety has also endorsed pending legislation for better transparency in social media platforms' terms and conditions, as well as protections against companies implementing intentionally addictive features targeted to child users.

Berkman said he has personal experience in leading for change to better protect California's youth, helping pass a first-in-the-nation law.

"My co-founder - Ed Peisner - his 14-year-old son was brutally attacked," said Berkman. "An associate of the attacker filmed the attack and put it up on social media. And we developed Jordan's Law after Jordan Peisner, to deter what we now call social media-motivated violence."

Social media reform activist Frances Haugen became a household name after turning over data from her former employer, Facebook, to the U.S. government.

In an online discussion hosted by the American Federation of Teachers, Haugen reiterated her position that Facebook, and its parent company Meta - which also owns Instagram, WhatsApp and other platforms - knows the damage it is inflicting on American children, and must be held accountable.

"No one inside of Facebook came in and said, 'This is what we want to do,'" said Haugen. "But what they did do is, they turned a blind eye. If we hold children's toys to a product liability standard where you need to demonstrate you did safety by design, why aren't we asking the same thing of these virtual products for children? Especially as we move into the land of the 'metaverse.'"

Haugen - a former Facebook product manager - explained rather than acting as a mirror to reflect what's already taking place in society, Facebook instead both amplifies certain ideas over others, and induces users to act in certain ways.




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