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when designing apps, websites, and platforms likely to be accessed by young people.6 Fairplay
<br /> and many of our coalition members actively supported the successful passage of the California
<br /> Age Appropriate Design Code. We were also lead organizers on the 2022 federal legislative
<br /> campaigns for the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection
<br /> Act. And in November of last year, we filed a Petition for Rulemaking, signed by 21
<br /> organizations, urging the FTC to declare that certain design techniques used by online platforms
<br /> to maximize engagement are unfair practices.'
<br /> Fairplay is also home to the Screen Time Action Network, a collaborative community of
<br /> practitioners, educators, advocates, and parents who work to reduce excessive technology use
<br /> harming children, adolescents, and families. The Action Network hosts seven work groups,
<br /> including Online Harms Prevention, a group whose members include today's witness Kristin
<br /> Bride and several other parents who have tragically lost their children to social media harms.
<br /> II. Children and teens spend a significant portion of their day using digital media.
<br /> Digital device use begins in early childhood: Nearly half of 2-to 4-year-olds and more than two-
<br /> thirds of 5-to 8-year-olds have their own tablet or smartphone.1 Preschool-age children
<br /> average 2.5 hours of screen media use per day, and five-to eight-year-olds average about 3
<br /> hours.' In a study of elementary school-aged children's digital media use during the pandemic,
<br /> approximately one-third of parents reported that their children began using social media at a
<br /> younger age than they had originally planned.10
<br /> Despite the fact that all major social media sites have a minimum age of 13 in their terms of
<br /> service, a growing number of younger children use platforms like TikTok, Snapchat and
<br /> Instagram. About half of parents of children ages 10 to 12 and 32% of parents of kids ages 7 to
<br /> 9 reported their child used social media apps in the first six months of 2021.11 That same year,
<br /> 18% of 8-to 12-year-olds reported using social media every day, a 38% increase from just two
<br /> years prior.12 Leaked documents from TikTok revealed the company used machine learning to
<br /> 6 Coalition members include Accountable Tech,American Academy of Pediatrics,Center for Digital Democracy,
<br /> Center for Humane Technology,Children and Screens,Common Sense, Electronic Privacy Information Center,
<br /> Exposure Labs:The Creators of The Social Dilemma, Fairplay, ParentsTogether,and RAINN:
<br /> 1]:tt.l).a..:././...�.g,.Flip n(:L,dwithkid aini�ii��i.u.�a/.
<br /> Center for Digital Democracy&Fairplay, In the Matter of Petition for Rulemaking to Prohibit the Use on Children
<br /> of Design Features that Maximize for Engagement, (filed Nov. 17 2022). 12.t;tps.//fairDlayforl<iids.or w -
<br /> g.!2n.1pr i7.:tL.e,nIoads/3.022/J J/Ei7 „a rngTtPP tionon.0 d
<br /> s Victoria Rideout& Michael B. Robb, The Common Sense Census:Media Use by Kids Age Zero to Eight,2020,
<br /> Common Sense Media at 25, (2020),https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/
<br /> defa u It/files/resea rch/report/2020_zero_to_eight_census_fi na I_web.pdf.
<br /> 9 Id.
<br /> to Tiffany Munzer,Chioma Torres,et al.,Child Media Use During COVID-19:Associations with Contextual and
<br /> Social-Emotional Factors,43 Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at 3(2022),
<br /> S. u.slam-d.i7clai.i7lrri.i7ih..aov/36J06745/.
<br /> 11 Kristen Rogers,Children under 10 are using social media. Parents can help them stay safe online, CNN,(Oct. 18,
<br /> 2021 17GGas. www.ci7i7.corri 202J J0 J8 17 aIGl7 cl7iIdrei7 social rri dia a as u.ss aoll w �li7 ss ii7d x.17Grril
<br /> ), .................../... .................................................................................. ............................/............... ............../...................................../........................................................................................................................................p..............................................................................................................................................................................
<br /> lz Victoria Rideout,Alanna Peebles,et al., The Common Sense Census:Media Use by Tweens and Teens at 12,
<br /> (2022), https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/8-18-census-integrated-report-
<br /> final-web_O.pdf.
<br /> Testimony of Josh Golin, Fairplay, February 14, 2023 3
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