A bipartisan group of lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee introduced Sammy’s Law of 2023, also known as the Let Parents Choose Protection Act, to make more tools available for parents to protect their children from harmful online interactions. In a new insight, Technology and Innovation Policy Analyst Joshua Levine explains the main components of the bill and considers its potential benefits and problems.

Key points:

• Whereas previous child online safety bills sought to place significant restrictions on social media platforms regarding the type of content they could host for minors, Sammy’s Law opts for a different approach by requiring platforms to allow third-party safety software providers to access their application programing interfaces.
• These tools, the bill’s proponents claim, would help parents better manage their children’s online interactions.
• Sammy’s Law, however, could raise concerns surrounding digital privacy, heightened parental tracking and restrictions of internet exploration, and the FTC’s greater role in the oversight of these tools the bill ascribes to it.

Read the analysis