Behind the Screen: Policy approaches to protecting children online

Whether you are a boomer, a millennial, an X or a GenZ – we all spend much time on the internet. Young people around the globe are reported to spend numerous hours online and on social media, often reaching worrying screen time. Whilst the Internet helps them learning, expressing themselves, connecting with friends, developing interests and building communities, it also exposes them to addiction and other dangers online, from harmful content and cyberbullying to the threat of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). The use, design and functioning of social media and online platforms have also led to growing concerns about their effects on young people’s mental and physical health, including anxiety, depression, and body image issues fuelled by unrealistic portrayals and cyber harassment. The push for age verification systems adds another layer of complexity, as the debate focuses on how to ensure user safety without compromising data privacy or introducing overly intrusive methods.

In the EU, thanks to the Digital Services Act, big tech companies (designated as Very Large Online Platforms) have to assess the risks of their services triggering negative effects on children’s’ rights and young people’s mental and physical health. They need to propose concrete actions to mitigate them, such as by introducing age verification measures, help children manage screen time and providing control tools to parents. Targeted advertising based on profiling is banned, which means that online platforms are not allowed to track kids according to their interactions and browsing history on social platforms. Furthermore, online platforms need to act fast where illegal materials are shared or minors have access to potentially harmful content, and take all the necessary measures, for example by adapting their content moderation practices and increase dedicated resources to protect minors.

In the US efforts to protect minors online are an important issue at both Federal and State level. For example, the US Senate recently passed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and COPPA 2.0, which would enhance privacy protections for minors and introduce obligations for platforms to address risks related to CSAM, harmful content, and young people’s mental health impacts. At State level, the California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code, which has been challenged in Court, aims at setting stricter standards for platforms, requiring child-friendly designs, limiting data use, and banning targeted ads to minors.

How do policymakers, online platforms and child safety experts across the globe tackle these challenges? What are best practices when it comes to age verification and how to strike the right balance between protection and privacy? What can we learn from each other in the EU and the US to better protect minors online?

Join us at our next #BrusselstotheBay session “Behind the screen: Policy approaches to protecting children online” for a discussion with experts who are deeply involved in designing rules to safeguard children online. The event, organized by the European Union Office in San Francisco, will take place at One Post Street,SF and remotely 23rd on Monday September 23rd at 1pm.

Meet our speakers (bio below):

• Martin Harris Hess - Head of Sector Protection of Minors, DG CNECT, European Commission
• Buffy Wicks - California Assemblymember, Chair of the Appropriations Committee and co-author of the California Age Appropriate Design Code
• Arturo Bejar - Former Senior Leader for Integrity and Care at Facebook
• Ravi Iyer - Research Director for the USC Marshall School's Neely Center and Managing Director of the Psychology of Technology Institute
• Julie Scelfo - Founder and Executive Director of Mothers Against Media Addiction
• Riana Pfefferkorn - Policy Fellow at Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence [Moderator]

Key info:

Date: Monday 23rd of September

Time: 12pm open door, discussion starts at 1pm

Venue: EU Office in SF, 1 Post Street – 94104 (suite 23rd)

Format: In-person and online (further information provided upon registration)

MEET OUR SPEAKERS

• Martin Harris Hess - Head of Sector Protection of Minors, DG CNECT, European Commission

During his time in the European Commission, Martin has been advising on many matters linked with the Digital Single Market, both from a regulatory as well as a policy development side, including on telecommunications regulation, the digital transformation of Europe’s industry, the Artificial Intelligence Act, and the Commission’s Digital and Data Strategies. Most recently, Martin joined the Commission’s Directorate in charge of implementing and enforcing the Digital Services Act (DSA) where he leads the team on the protection of minors, one of the key enforcement priorities under the DSA.

Before joining the European Commission in 2010, Martin worked as a legal consultant to a major, internationally active telecommunications and digital services provider in London and as a senior legal adviser for the UK’s telecoms, media and broadcasting regulator, Ofcom.

Educated as a lawyer in Germany, Martin gained a Master Degree in EU law and European business regulation from the University of Oxford before starting his career in the media, digital and telecoms sectors.

• Buffy Wicks - California Assemblymember, Chair of the Appropriations Committee and co-author of the California Age Appropriate Design Code

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks represents the East Bay in the California State Assembly, with a district spanning the communities of Oakland to Richmond, and includes the City of Berkeley.

Asm. Wicks was recently appointed Chair of the Appropriations Committee, after serving as Chair of the Assembly Housing Committee for two years prior. Her work focuses heavily on advancing solutions to solve California's housing and homelessness crisis, expanding our state’s social safety net, protecting kids in the digital world, and championing the rights of women and working families. A lifelong community organizer, Asm. Wicks previously served on both of President Barack Obama’s campaigns, and worked for him in the White House. She lives in Oakland with her husband, Peter, and daughters, Jojo and Elly.

• Arturo Bejar - Former Senior Leader for Integrity and Care at Facebook

From 2009 to 2015, Arturo was the senior leader at Facebook responsible for its efforts to keep users safe and supported. Reporting directly to the executive team, Arturo managed engineering and product for “Site Integrity,” “Security Infrastructure,” and “Care,”– which developed Facebook’s user-facing and internal customer care tools, spam and fake accounts, bullying, suicide prevention, as well as the child safety tools. From 2019 to 2021 Arturo returned to the company as a consultant to work on well-being issues at Instagram. During his second stint Arturo led research, documented, and briefed the executive team on material harm experienced on Instagram. It was the knowing disregard of the harm teens experience on Instagram that led Arturo to whistleblow.

• Ravi Iyer - Research Director for the USC Marshall School's Neely Center and Managing Director of the Psychology of Technology Institute

Ravi Iyer is the Managing Director of the USC Marshall School’s Neely Center. He advises the UNDP, the authors of The Anxious Generation, the Minnesota Attorney General’s office, and the UK's OfCom on improving the societal impact of technology. Previously, he spent 4+ years leading data science, research and product teams across Meta toward improving the societal impact of social media. He has a Ph.D. in social psychology from USC, co-founded Ranker and continues to work at the intersection of academia, civil society, and the technology industry.

• Julie Scelfo - Founder and Executive Director of Mothers Against Media Addiction

Julie Scelfo is Founder of Mother’s Against Media Addiction (MAMA), a grassroots movement of parents fighting back against media addiction and creating a world in which real-life experiences and interactions remain at the heart of a healthy childhood.

She is an award-winning journalist, a former New York Times staff writer, a media ecologist, and a parent.

Scelfo was moved to start MAMA after reporting on the youth mental health crisis and seeing suicidality affect children at ever-younger ages, and recognizing how a multitude of factors—including screen addiction and absent regulations—has created an unhealthy, unsafe media environment.

Scelfo’s stories on mental health have been leading the national conversation for decades, from her coverage of suicidality and social media on college campuses, to increasing suicidality among tweens. She created the Get Media Savvy coalition to help create a widespread cultural shift so everyone recognizes the central role of media in human affairs and takes steps to protect the building blocks of well-being.

• Riana Pfefferkorn - Policy fellow at Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence [Moderator]

A lawyer by training, Riana researches the law and policy implications of emerging technologies including AI. Her research spans topics in privacy and civil liberties, encryption policy, digital surveillance, cybersecurity, and online trust and safety. Her past work includes analyzing the legal implications of AI-generated child abuse material, predicting the impact of “deepfakes” on evidentiary proceedings in court, studying the system for reporting child exploitation online, and surveying online platforms’ use of “content-oblivious” trust and safety techniques, among other topics.

Riana has trained congressional staffers and state-court judges on AI-related issues, testified to a committee of the Australian Parliament, and spoken at various legal and cybersecurity conferences, including Black Hat and DEF CON’s Crypto & Privacy Village. She appears frequently in the press, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and NPR, and has written for publications including Scientific American, the Boston Review, Brookings, Lawfare, Tech Policy Press, and Just Security. A list of additional publications and other work product is available here.

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