The FTC has plans for adding psychologists and pediatricians to its staff to help on issues related to social media use and child mental health, Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya said Monday. The agency wants to emulate the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority, which has interdisciplinary teams within the organization, he said during State of the Net conference. The agency plans to add the specialists in the fall, he said. Based on social science research, three things are driving “teen mental health” concerns online, he said: social media content, extended engagement tools and features that enable user harassment.
Allowing the affordable connectivity program to lapse would have “significant downstream effect” on the economy, said FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez during a Q&A at ITI’s Intersect event Wednesday.
Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., will seek unanimous consent (UC) for five committee-passed kids’ online safety bills, he told reporters Tuesday.
The FTC should deny a petition for a right-to-repair rulemaking because the proposal would chill innovation and undermine market-based solutions, tech and telecom groups told the agency in comments due Friday (see 2401040020). U.S. Public Interest Research Group and iFixit filed a petition in November for an FTC rulemaking seeking rules making independent repair easier and more widely available.
Existing law needs updating to protect artists and individuals from fake AI-generated content, House Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said Friday during a hearing in Los Angeles.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday apologized to the families of social media-related victims during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. As in previous hearings, the lawmakers vowed they would approve laws holding Big Tech more accountable for children's online safety.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will seek support from Meta, X, TikTok and Discord for kids’ privacy legislation during Wednesday's hearing when their CEOs are scheduled to appear, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told reporters Tuesday.
The FTC is examining Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft to see if they are unfairly exerting undue control over AI markets, Chair Lina Khan announced Thursday.
Parents aren't the only ones responsible for protecting their children online, and social media companies should do more as their safety obligations evolve with the rise of AI, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said Monday.
Senate committees will take a proactive stance on AI legislation in 2024 now that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has wrapped up his AI forums, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told us last week.