FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, September 11, 2023
Fairplay and ParentsTogether Issue Joint Statement on Recent Rulings in Arkansas and Texas
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Fairplay and ParentsTogether issued a joint statement following recent rulings in Arkansas and Texas that treat parental supervision and oversight as the sole solution for addressing how tech harms kids. The joint statement is below:
“Parental supervision is not, nor will it ever be, a solution for addressing how tech harms kids. Placing the onus on parents to keep tech products safe is an impossible framework that lets social media and other tech companies off the hook for the products and algorithms they built,” said Fairplay and ParentsTogether. “Parents are doing the best they can to provide oversight, but they are outmatched by social media and other tech companies that purposefully developed their products to maximize profit at the expense of children’s safety. If the platforms want to design products that kids use, they must bear the responsibility of keeping kids safe on their platforms. That’s why Congress and state legislatures should focus on advancing privacy-by-default and safety-by-design standards like Age-Appropriate-Design Code bills and the Kids Online Safety Act that hold social media companies accountable and help protect kids from social media’s most egregious harms.”
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