On Monday, several California Senators introduced two significant pieces of legislation: the Protecting Youth from Social Media Addiction Act (SB 976) and the California Children’s Data Privacy Act (AB 1949), as detailed by Engadget. The proposals are designed with the dual aim of safeguarding individuals under the age of 18 and enhancing parental oversight and control.

This is important legislation. It is a topic heavily covered in the media this week as hearings took place on Capital Hill about the issues facing parents and children. What I’d like to focus on here is that Algorithmic feeds on social media platforms can absolutely contribute to the grooming and exploitation of children.

Grooming is a process where an individual or group takes advantage of a power imbalance to coerce or deceive a child into sexual activity, which can occur through technology without physical contact. The consequences of grooming are severe, leading to physical and psychological trauma and even manipulation into criminal activities.

Algorithmic feeds play a significant role in content visibility. These algorithms prioritize content based on user interactions, such as likes, comments, and shares, which can inadvertently increase the visibility of harmful content, including child abuse material. The challenge with these algorithms is their inability to consistently detect and remove inappropriate material due to the volume of the content and the evolving nature of such illicit content.

The presence of child abuse material on platforms like Instagram is alarming. In 2020, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received over 21 million reports of child sexual abuse material, a significant portion of which was found on social media platforms. The distribution of this content causes severe psychological and societal impacts, including long-term trauma for victims and a culture of exploitation and desensitization in society.

Instagram, for example, has taken steps to combat this issue by implementing robust content moderation policies and employing AI and machine learning to enhance content moderation capabilities. The platform also collaborates with law enforcement and non-profit organizations to identify and report child abuse material. However, the effectiveness of these measures is challenged by the sophistication of perpetrators and the limitations of current detection mechanisms.

To address this issue, it is crucial for users, particularly parents and educators, to understand the reporting mechanisms and safety measures on every social media platform. Reporting tools and support resources are available for flagging inappropriate content, and parental and educational guidelines can help protect children from exposure to such material.

While algorithmic feeds on social media have “revolutionized” content engagement, they also pose significant risks in terms of child grooming and exploitation. The challenge lies in balancing the benefits of algorithmic content curation with the need to protect vulnerable users, especially children, from harmful content and exploitation. It is long past time to take action and penalize social media platforms for their inaction.

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(This post was largely generated by ChatGPT with Bing search integration, and additional research was done using Google’s Bard AI and Google Search. It was grammar-checked using Grammarly, edited, expanded, and validated by an actual human. The featured image for this post was generated in Midjourney v6 using the prompt: “a child alone in the dark, lit only by the glow of their iphone, abstract concept art”)