88R11184 BPG-D
By: Patterson, González of El Paso H.C.R. No. 46
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Scores of experts have warned the U.S. Congress
about the pressing need to protect children and adolescents from
social media harms; and
WHEREAS, Over the course of five hearings, the Senate
Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data
Security received abundant testimony about the severe impacts
social media platforms can have on brain development and mental
health; problems noted by experts include hazardous substance use,
eating disorders, bullying, anxiety, depression, and self-harm;
Meta whistleblower Frances Haugen provided a trove of the company's
internal research showing that its products have negative impacts
on children, especially teenage girls, and that the company
downplayed this troubling information and made but minimal efforts
to mitigate damage; she implored Congress to take action; and
WHEREAS, In a June 2022 letter, American Psychological
Association Services, Mental Health America, and more than 100
other organizations told the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation that the growing mental health crisis
among America's youth is exacerbated by social media platforms
designed in ways that increase exposure to harmful content and
encourage unhealthy patterns of use; adolescence involves
neurological changes that promote cravings for social attention,
feedback, and status, the letter stated, and young users can find it
difficult to abstain from social media, even when they recognize
that it is making them feel terrible about themselves; and
WHEREAS, The internet is a comparatively new form of media,
and during its short history, Congress has struggled to understand
the full breadth of its impact and determine how best to prevent
negative consequences; though it aimed to safeguard those under the
age of 13 with the passage of the Children's Online Privacy
Protection Act of 1998, Congress has yet to address the many issues
that have arisen in the intervening quarter century; and
WHEREAS, Crafting legislation to prevent children from
accessing harmful content has proven a particularly challenging
endeavor, given the need to accommodate First Amendment concerns;
laws targeting specific categories of speech based on content are
subject to the exacting "strict scrutiny" standard of judicial
review, and the courts have previously struck down as
unconstitutional statutes seeking to criminalize the provision of
harmful internet content to minors; however, federal case law does
recognize certain circumstances in which Congress may restrict
children's access to particular types of information, depending on
such factors as existence of a demonstrable harm and assurances
that any restriction does not encumber more constitutionally
protected speech than is necessary; and
WHEREAS, When social media platforms fail to take
responsibility for the harms they cause, it is incumbent upon
lawmakers to step in, and although balancing legal protections with
First Amendment considerations will require extreme delicacy, the
health, safety, and well-being of children and adolescents are too
important to leave to the vagaries of algorithms designed to
protect profits, not children; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 88th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to pass
legislation to protect children from the harms of social media;
and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the
Senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the
Texas delegation to the Congress with the request that this
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.