INSIGHT: Should the FTC Implement Universal Age Restrictions?

Before they are born, most children have a premature digital identity created by their parents. Eighty-one percent of the world’s children and 92% of U.S. children now have an online presence before they turn two.

For outlets like TikTok and YouTube, privacy advocates have voiced their concerns with respect to safety measures implemented by outlets to protect children. The Federal Trade Commission is now acting on these concerns.

Yet, the question the FTC should be considering rather than “investigating,” is whether it should implement a universal age restriction for social media registration to better comply with existing laws?

One problem is that compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act have proven to be a challenge, as the law is still catching up to technology.

The GDPR is a legal framework, comprised of 99 articles, that requires businesses (banks, insurance companies, other financial institutions) to protect the personal data and privacy of European Union (EU) citizens for transactions that occur within EU member states. This is a huge responsibility—to ensure every piece of information collected from users complies with the GDPR framework.

The COPPA governs the privacy policies of internet-connected entities, as it pertains to the data of children under the age of 13 who use their services.

Unanswered Questions

COPPA was amended and updated in 2013 to include new forms of technology that could collect data from young people, such as social media, mobile apps, and gaming platforms, but it still left major questions unanswered, primarily because of the rapid advancement social media has experienced with AI, machine learning, and other forms of data analytics.

Those questions are:

1. What consequences, if any, await a user who inputs false information to the content provider for sole purpose of gaining access?
2. What happens when children use these technologies without parent’s knowledge of what programs or tech is in use, what data is being collected, or what happens to that data once generated?
3. Should children’s content be migrated off-platform to avoid being targeted by advertisements, or should websites be prohibited from targeting and tailoring advertisements towards children?

As social media and online technology continues to evolve, COPPA becomes more difficult to comply with, simply because the type of content placed online is always changing.

Need for a Universal Age Restriction

Several factors support the need for a universal age restriction. First, anyone can easily bypass the “age verification” check with false information.

Second, different platforms have different age requirements. For example, Facebook and Instagram require a user to be at least 13 years old; Twitter, at least 13 years old; SnapChat, at least 13 years old; WhatsApp, at least 16 years old; and YouTube, at least 18 years old.

Third, there are always new ways being developed to create engaging content targeting children; and lastly, the complexity of computer crimes is increasing and advancing daily.

Unauthorized Data Aggregation

At age 13, children are still more than a decade away from having a fully developed prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain involved with decision-making and impulse control. Yet, parents and educators unleash them onto the internet.

During their earliest years, kids’ digital identities are shaped by other individuals, most likely their parents. The very day they are born to the world, so is their online identity—with pictures posted to the internet for scavengers to search, scrape, analyze, and distribute to third parties. This violates a child’s most fundamental right to privacy.

Indeed, a new framework must be created, preventing the premature exploitation of young children. This generation and ones to come will be held accountable to their inescapable online identities that were outside their level of appreciation and control.

Online Bullying Is Increasing

Today’s most powerful digital weapon is social media. From it has stemmed a new form of bullying—cyber, leading to teen suicide and an increasing number of school shootings.

Remember the cases of David Molak, Tyler Clementi, and Grace McComas? Bullying now follows children home from school—making it much easier to “get to a person,” from the other side of town … or the world.

As of today, 87% of young people have seen cyberbullying occurring online, with 17% saying it has happened within the last 30 days.

This has given rise to social networks, like GromSocial, created by kids, for kids, to help shape “good digital hygiene.”

What Can the FTC Do?

In February, TikTok entered into a settlement with the FTC, where the video platform agreed to pay a record $5.7 million to resolve child privacy claims.

It’s fair to assume that YouTube could be entering into a similar agreement. Privacy advocates have suggested that YouTube migrate all children’s content to a separate platform, such as YouTube Kids. But time is against us. FTC Chairman, Joseph Simons, recently suggested that YouTube wouldn’t need to migrate all the children’s content, but rather, channels could disable child-targeted advertising.

Is this the right strategy? No, but there are alternatives.

1. Implement an MPAA-Style Rating System
Having a universal age requirement to register on social media, based off the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) style rating system.

Maurine Molak, mother and voice to David Molak and co-founder of David’s Legacy Foundation, agreed with me.
“If parents controlled their child’s YouTube account then they could determine what rating level is most appropriate for their child’s maturity level,” she told me. At the end of the day, “it’s really up to parents to monitor what their child has access to and social media companies can do a better job of helping parents with tools to monitor access to inappropriate content.”

2. “Look to the Algorithm”
According to Dallas attorney-turned YouTube Pokémon star Lee Steinfeld, better known as ‘Leonhart,’ the algorithm is the answer.

“I would hope there is some sort of protection for younger viewers … however, finding the best way to tackle this is difficult,” he explained. “… [C]hildren simply create accounts and list their age as older, or … use their parents accounts to bypass security. In any case, having the algorithm of how posts and information are presented to younger kids … is paramount to ensuring it works effectively in preventing younger viewers from ending up on the wrong type of content.”

All Leonhart’s content is family friendly, recently grabbing the attention of NBC’s American Ninja Warrior, where he’s made it easy to appeal to both younger and older viewers.

Christine McComas, mother and voice to Grace McComas, for whom Maryland’s Grace’s Law is named, agreed with Steinfeld:
“In theory, age restrictions ... and ANYTHING we can do to protect our kids is important. In practice however, it’s already been shown that underage children flout the restrictions with ease.”

3. There Is No ‘One-Size-Fit-All’ Approach
But to Jane Clementi, mother and voice to Tyler Clementi and co-founder of the Tyler Clementi Foundation, an age restriction is just one component to the problem:

“… [W]e should also be sure that parents are empowered to raise children who are good citizens on and off line. In my opinion, keeping our youth safe in the digital world is the responsibility of many and will require a collaborative and multi-pronged approach between social media platforms and parents.”

Time will tell as the FTC begins its attempts at harmonizing COPPA with modern-day technology.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. or its owners.

Author Information

Andrew Rossow is an internet and technology attorney, an adjunct cybersecurity law professor at the University of Dayton in Ohio, and a media consultant for ABC, FOX, and NBC in Ohio. He provides a unique perspective on new, emerging technologies, social media crimes, privacy implications, and digital currencies.