Interior Alaska News

U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, has voted in favor of the Kids Online Safety and Protection Act. This legislation aims to safeguard children's health, wellbeing, and privacy online by merging elements from the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The bill addresses harmful online content aimed at minors and seeks to enhance parental involvement in their children's digital activities.

Senator Sullivan has been a vocal advocate for holding social media platforms accountable concerning youth mental health issues, particularly as adolescent suicide rates have risen significantly over the past decade.

"In my 2023 speech to the Alaska legislature, I told Alaska’s elected leaders that this would be a big battle, but that I’d fight to shake the vise grip social media has on our children," said Senator Sullivan. "The Kids Online Safety and Protection Act is a necessary first step in holding Big Tech accountable for the content they push towards our kids, and giving parents the tools to be more involved in their kids’ online activity, but we have more work to do."

Sullivan emphasized concerns about young people's attachment to phones and social media: "As a parent, it is impossible not to hear stories about young people seemingly addicted to their phones and social media accounts. Even those who aren’t parents know something is horribly amiss with a whole generation who have been so addicted by Big Tech that they can’t seem to look up from their phones."

He also highlighted the troubling increase in adolescent suicide rates alongside rising social media use: "More troubling, suicide rates among adolescents have increased dramatically in the last decade with the rise of social media. We must do more to protect our children. We can have the strongest economy, the best quality of life, but none of that means anything if our kids are depressed and are considering ending their lives because of what they’re consuming online."