Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel was among several attorneys general that wrote TikTok and Snapchat to encourage implementation of stronger parental controls. | Argo Images/Pixabay
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel was among several attorneys general that wrote TikTok and Snapchat to encourage implementation of stronger parental controls. | Argo Images/Pixabay
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a coalition advocating for more parental control over social media that promotes an unrealistic “comparison culture.”
Nessel was among a bipartisan coalition of 44 attorneys general of the National Association of Attorneys General who wrote TikTok and Snapchat on March 28 to ask them to implement stronger parental control and content moderation and to collaborate with parental control apps, a press release said.
“I'm very concerned about social media's impact on the mental and physical health of our young people,” Nessel said on her Facebook page. “When everything is shared on social media, it fosters a comparison culture in which our kids are constantly exposed to unrealistic beauty standards and hateful rhetoric spewed by those who hide behind keyboards.”
Social media app TikTok allows users “to create, watch, and share 15-second videos shot on cellphones,” Investopedia said. It can be addictive and engaging. Snapchat is a messaging app in which users can exchange pictures and videos (snaps) which disappear after being viewed.
The attorneys general wrote that TikTok and Snapchat don’t “effectively collaborate with parental control applications” and they don’t “provide an adequate opportunity for parental control within the platform.”
“Many other platforms already allow parental control apps to monitor the content on their respective platforms,” the letter said. “We ask that you conform to widespread industry practice by giving parents increased ability to protect their vulnerable children.”
Social media can have negative effects on children and teens, including creating decreased self-esteem, greater body-image dissatisfaction plus exposure to cyberbullying and sexual predation, the release said.
A 2021 study by parental controls service Bark analyzed over 3.4 billion messages and found that 43.09% of tweens and 74.61% of teens were involved in a self-harm/suicidal situation; 68.97% of tweens and 90.73% of teens encountered nudity or content of a sexual nature; 75.35% of tweens and 93.31% of teens engaged in conversations surrounding drugs/alcohol; 80.82% of tweens and 94.50% of teens expressed or experienced violent subject matter/thoughts; and 72.09% of tweens and 85.00% of teens experienced bullying as a bully, victim, or witness.
Nessel joined investigations into TikTok and Meta Platforms, formerly known as Facebook, the release said.
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