Support the Nebraska Kids Code!
Nebraska State Legislature
The time kids spend on social media platforms is putting them at serious risk to their physical and mental health all while lining the pockets of big tech.
• 75% of the top social media platforms use artificial intelligence (AI) to recommend children’s profiles to strangers.
• Leaked Instagram documents said the platform is exacerbating body image problems for 1 in 3 teen girls.
• Average screen time for American teens increased by 17% in the last two years to over 8.5 hours a day.
We should think of online spaces for kids as we think about community parks and playgrounds – their designs must be safe and appropriate for kids to play and grow.
The Nebraska Age Appropriate Design Code is a bipartisan bill that would make tech companies design their products to be safe for children by design and default.
Legislation like this has already succeeded in protecting kids across the globe and in other US states. Currently, Nebraska kids do not have the same rights and protections that can keep them safe online.
Our children deserve these protections too. Sign the letter to show you support the Nebraska Kids Code passing this session!
Sponsored by
To:
Nebraska State Legislature
From:
[Your Name]
We are parents, grandparents, and other Nebraska residents who care about kids, and we’re writing because we desperately need the Nebraska Kids Code.
Families are in crisis. We’re fighting every day to protect our kids from depression, cyberbullying, eating disorders, dangerous viral “challenges,” exposure to drug use and to sexual predators – all of which are fueled by social media for big tech profits. These dangers have life-threatening consequences for children. Teens who spend five or more hours a day on social media are 71% more likely to have one or more risk factors for suicide than those who spend less than an hour a day. That's a terrifying number when you consider that 81% of 14 to 22 year-olds said they use social media either “daily” or “almost constantly.”
This constant use is by design. Social media companies engineer their products to keep kids online as much as possible – through algorithms, notifications, and endless scrolling – because it makes them money. These manipulative tactics harm users, especially the youngest and most vulnerable. Regulating the tech products our children use is way overdue. We have nutrition labels on food packaging, rigorous testing for cribs and car seats, and yet the technology most children use daily has few to no safeguards.
More than 80% of Americans say they want laws that force social media platforms to take steps to make kids safer online. Nebraska has the opportunity to lead the nation in protecting children online and prioritizing young people’s mental, physical, and emotional health over profits for private companies. The best way to do that is to make the design of social platforms safer by passing Kids Codes.
Design codes are proven to work to protect children. The UK implemented the Age Appropriate Design Code in September 2021. Since then, tech companies have made changes to products that children use to ensure their data isn’t needlessly collected and that product design is not detrimental to their health and well-being.
We believe Nebraska children deserve these protections too, and we need your help getting them for our kids.
We call on Nebraska lawmakers to put children’s interests ahead of those of the tech industry by supporting the Nebraska Kids Code.