Testimony

Written Testimony Before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee: Holding Big Tech Accountable: Targeted Reforms to Tech's Legal Immunity

Dec 2021 🇺🇸 U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce

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Weeks after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen's disclosures, Jim Steyer testified before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee that platform engagement-design features — which he said create a reward-seeking feedback loop for kids and teens — are associated with amplified exposure to content promoting disordered eating and self-harm, and cited a TikTok 'blackout challenge' that outside reporting linked to the deaths of several children. He argued that outside research and leaked internal company data, not voluntary industry action, show platforms permitting this kind of algorithmic amplification, and urged Congress to narrow Section 230's liability shield and pass legislation restricting manipulative design, harmful algorithms, and overly commercial content aimed at kids and teens. TechKids Foundation includes this as Steyer's most detailed congressional testimony connecting specific platform design choices to documented child-safety harms.

77% of teens get their news from social media

Steyer's testimony cited Common Sense Media research finding 77% of teens get news from social media platforms, and 39% specifically from influencers or celebrities.

1 in 4 kids age 9-17 reported an online sexual encounter with a presumed adult

The testimony cited a 2021 Thorn survey finding that one in four kids between ages 9 and 17 reported having had a sexual encounter online with someone they believed to be an adult.

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CITATION

Steyer, James P. Written Testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, hearing on "Holding Big Tech Accountable: Targeted Reforms to Tech's Legal Immunity." December 1, 2021.

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