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Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen, made a big splash last
year with documents showing that subsidiary Instagram was
harmful to teenagers while others have alleged that social media
platforms spread dangerous misinformation about coronavirus and
the vaccines to prevent it, among other ills.
Under the bill, the National Science Foundation and National
Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine would do a study
into potential interventions that Facebook or others could use
to address problems of social media addiction, Klobuchar's
office said in a release on Thursday.
The Federal Trade Commission would create rules based on the
findings, and hold the platforms accountable if they do not
comply, the release said.
"For too long, tech companies have said 'Trust us, we've got
this.' But we know that social media platforms have repeatedly
put profits over people, with algorithms pushing dangerous
content that hooks users and spreads misinformation. This bill
will help address these practices," said Klobuchar in a
statement.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Facebook declined to comment but pointed to a blog post in
December that said it would implement new tools for Instagram
that would, for example, stop people from tagging teens who
don't follow them or to take a break from the screen.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz; editing by Diane Craft)
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