U.S. Senator Katie Britt calls for Updated Social Media Legislation to Protect America's Youth

February 15, 2025 - WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) spoke on the floor of the Senate regarding the impact of social media on our nation's youth mental health crisis and her bipartisan legislation, the Kids Off Social Media Act, to address this epidemic.

"The Kids of Social Media Act would also prevent platforms from feeding targeted content picked by an algorithm to users under the age of 17," said Senator Britt. "For anyone who's curious about why that's in the bill, all you have to do is ask a teenager, especially a teenage girl. Former U.S. Senate Surgeon General Vivek Murthy wrote that nearly half of all adolescents say that social media makes them feel worse about their bodies."

Senator Britt cited concerning data inextricably linking kids' worsening mental health and the rise of social media.

"Emergency room visits amongst adolescents for anxiety, mood disorders and self-harm have all risen dramatically in the years since social media apps exploded onto the scene," said Senator Britt. "Over that same time period and during the second decade of this century, rates of depression amongst teenagers more than doubled. By 2019, 20% of teenagers agreed with the notion that, quote, 'life often feels meaningless,' almost a 100% increase from a decade earlier. According to the CDC in 2021 . . . 1 in 3 high school young women said she actually considered death by suicide; 25% of teenage girls made a plan to do so; 9% of high schoolers and 13% of teenage girls actually attempted death by suicide."

She continued, highlighting the lack of Congressional action in the social media space.

"While social media companies have taken some steps, it is clear that there is work for Congress to do," said Sen. Britt. "The last time a United States president signed a major piece of legislation addressing children and the internet was, wait for it, 1998. Almost 30 years ago, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act was signed into law. For reference, at that time that the law was signed, MySpace didn't even exist. It's time for an update and there is a clear place to start.

Last week, Senator Britt participated in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about the fentanyl crisis where she heard from multiple witnesses, including Jaime Puerta, President of Victims of Illicit Drugs, and Bridgette Norring, both of whom have tragically lost loved ones to fentanyl.

In her remarks, she mentioned how in the hearing, she heard "not one but two parents tell about their painful story, where their children had died of fentanyl poisoning from a pill that they had bought on Snapchat," after citing a study that found 58% of respondents between the ages of nine and 12 years old said they used Snapchat.

Senator Britt recently reintroduced social media legislation with Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut.), and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), all parents of school-aged kids. This month, the legislation passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee, and now heads to the full Senate for consideration.

She concluded her remarks by speaking on behalf of parents across America.

"A survey conducted by the Count on Mothers group showed that over 90% of mothers agreed that there should be a minimum age of 13 on social media platforms, and 87% of mothers agreed that social media companies should not be allowed to use personalized algorithms to deliver content to our children . . . " said Britt. "There is nothing more important we can do as a body than protect the people we serve. So, let's do it. Let's get the Kids Off Social Media Act through Congress and to the President's desk. There are parents across this country that are counting on us to step up, to put the proper guardrails in place so their children can be safe, and their children have an opportunity to both explore and to succeed."