Building Trust & Digital Citizenship, Not Censorship

As we navigate the current pandemic, access to the Internet, social media platforms, websites, apps and services is absolutely vital for kids and their families. Online learning, working from home and social connection depend on the Internet in ways unthinkable just one year ago. For that reason, state and federal proposals to regulate the Internet must carefully consider the unintended consequences that could adversely impact our online lives with little or no return.

For example, we need to think carefully before enacting legislation that could curtail or cut off access to commonly used sites and services, making it harder for children to attend classes, turn in homework or do collaborative projects with classmates. Any action that makes this harder, or impossible, would be a grave disservice to the efforts that kids and parents have made to find normalcy and continue education despite the circumstances brought about by COVID-19.

It’s important to remember that there are existing parental controls and user settings already available that allow parents and young people to customize their online experiences and enhance safety and privacy. Some of these include settings to block inappropriate content, set time limits and restrictions on chat. AT&T’s Secure Family has a suite of tools that block, restrict, and provide location data. Google’s free Family Link puts parents in control of their kids’ Google accounts. Facebook has a range of parental controls as well as online safety tools that help teens and young people take control of their own online presence with ways to block, report and limit who can communicate with them or access their content.

Transparency is important for families to be better able to navigate which apps, websites, and online experiences are right for them. Clear, easy to understand community guidelines and terms of service are essential for parents to decide which products or platforms are safe for their children to use. We encourage technology companies to be much clearer and consistent about their enforcement decisions — communicating with users why particular content was flagged, labeled or removed. At the same time companies require flexibility to allow them to remove legal but potentially harmful content, which creates an unsafe online experience for their young users. 

Effective communication from Internet companies can benefit everyone using the service and ideally reduce or eliminate the problematic behavior or content in question before resorting to more severe actions, such as banning users from the service or platform. This transparency is also helpful for lawmakers who wish to improve online safety by ensuring companies are holding up their end of the user agreements, justifying their enforcement actions, and effectively communicating with users.

As we all spend more time online, the importance and value of teaching digital citizenship and media literacy have become even higher priorities. In the past year, my organization, the Family Online Safety Institute has published policy briefs for legislators, blogs for parents, and held webinars about the importance of these skills in our digital age. By improving media literacy and digital citizenship education across the country and across generations we will create a safer Internet.

The Family Online Safety Institute is a 501 c 3 non profit organization that receives financial support from over two dozen technology and communication companies as well as Trusts and Foundations.