By Hanna Seariac, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — As state and national lawmakers reckon with the impact of social media on teens, Sen. Mitt Romney has co-sponsored a bill aimed at protecting children from online harm.

The Kids Online Safety Act is a bipartisan piece of legislation shepherded by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. The bill would require social media platforms to give children the option to protect their data and disable features like personalized algorithmic recommendations. Children would be able to limit other design features like infinite scrolling, autoplay and notifications.

It would also give parents controls on social media platforms to help protect their children. It would mandate that these platforms mitigate harms to minors like preventing the promotion of content around eating disorders and suicide.

At a hearing of social media CEOs before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap, and Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, said that they would support the safety act. The tense hearing drew increased national attention to the issue of whether or not the government should regulate social media companies more to prevent alleged harm to children.

"Social media is making our young people more vulnerable to cyberbullying, addiction and long-term mental health challenges," Romney said. "Large tech companies have failed to institute measures to adequately protect children and teenagers from these hazards, and we have little indication that things will change without legislative action."

"I'm proud to join a majority of my colleagues in co-sponsoring this legislation which would require social media companies to equip parents and their children with the necessary tools to keep themselves safe online," Romney continued in a news release.

A 2022 study of 1,480 teens between 13 and 17 years old found that nearly 50% of respondents said going on social media can make them feel sad or depressed. Half of teens said going on social media can make them feel lonely or isolated. On the flip side, the majority of teens also said that social media makes them socially connected.

https://www.ksl.com/article/50880733/sen-mitt-romney-on-why-hes-sponsoring-a-bill-to-help-curb-harm-from-teen-social-media-usage