Every major technological leap brings benefits—and tradeoffs. Over the last twenty years, social media platforms, mobile operating systems, app stores, and AI systems have transformed education, communication, and economic opportunity. But these same technologies have also exposed children to unprecedented levels of harm.

Parents know this intuitively. More than 90% of U.S. parents say online safety is now their top child-safety concern—higher than drugs, bullying, or physical safety. And they’re right to worry.

Mounting research shows that early smartphone and social media use correlates with rising rates of depression, anxiety, obesity, and sleep disruption among young people. Nearly all teens use social media; many do so “almost constantly.” Children who spend three or more hours online per day are twice as likely to experience mental health challenges. Meanwhile, youth suicide rates have risen more than 60% since 2007.

Exposure to online pornography has also surged despite decades of filtering tools. Nearly three-quarters of teens report seeing pornography online, often beginning at age 12 or younger. More than half say they’ve encountered violent content, including depictions of assault. The long-term impacts—ranging from altered relationship expectations to aggression and isolation—are well-documented.

This is what market failure looks like. To pretend the status quo is acceptable is to ignore a crisis in plain sight.

Why Technology Must Carry More Responsibility

Too often, the burden of online safety is shifted onto parents—despite the fact that platforms, algorithms, and apps are engineered to maximize engagement, not well-being. Parents can’t “out-parent” design choices that work against them.

At ChildSafe.dev, the premise is simple:

Safety must be built into technology itself—not bolted on as an afterthought.

ChildSafe.dev promotes:

1. privacy-preserving age assurance
2. developer-ready tools to detect grooming and harmful interactions
3. built-in content filtering and risk scoring
4. platform-level safety features that scale

This is infrastructure that platforms should have had from the start. Without embedding safety at the code and architecture layers, even the best policies will fall short.

Similarly, the Proudfoot Group adds a crucial layer through governance, oversight, and responsible-AI enforcement.

Modern platforms run on automated recommendation engines, behavioral prediction models, and opaque personalization systems. Without strong governance, these systems can unintentionally amplify harmful content or enable risky interactions.

The Proudfoot Group emphasizes frameworks that:

1. ensure organizations comply with safety and ethical standards
2. align AI behavior with societal and regulatory expectations
3. enable auditable, transparent decision-making
4. safeguard children from unintended algorithmic harms

Technology created today’s online risks—and technology must be part of the solution.

Policy Can Accelerate Change—Here’s How

Congress is evaluating several bills that would establish layered protections for minors. None of them alone is sufficient—but together, they form a real foundation.

The SCREEN Act

Would require adult sites to verify user ages at the national level while preserving privacy through data minimization and deletion rules. With states already implementing similar models, a federal standard is overdue.

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)

Targets harmful design patterns directly by requiring platforms likely to be used by minors to:

1. apply the strongest safety settings by default
2. allow parents to disable addictive features like autoplay and infinite scroll
3. prevent marketing of illegal products to minors

Internal documents from major tech companies show that leadership often deprioritized child safety to protect engagement and advertising revenue. KOSA forces platforms to reverse those incentives.

The App Store Accountability Act (ASAA)

Google and Apple control almost all mobile software distribution. ASAA would require them to verify age at account creation, link minors’ accounts to parents, and obtain parental consent for app downloads and purchases. By establishing verified age at the platform layer, ASAA makes it possible for other laws—like COPPA and KOSA—to function as intended.

A Holistic System—Technology + Governance + Policy

Individually, none of these bills solves the problem. But together they create a robust ecosystem:

1. ASAA creates trusted age verification at the device level
2. KOSA ensures platforms default to safer experiences
3. SCREEN covers browser-based access to harmful content

And when combined with:

1. ChildSafe.dev’s safety-by-design technical tools
2. The Proudfoot Group’s AI governance and accountability frameworks

…these policies become not just enforceable, but effective.

Parental controls alone cannot solve this. Self-regulation has failed. And privacy-protecting age assurance is entirely achievable with modern technology. Suggesting that parents should “just monitor their kids more” ignores reality—especially for households without the time, resources, or technological expertise to keep up with constantly evolving platforms.

After years of delay, Congress finally appears prepared to move forward. With the right combination of legislation, technology, and governance, we can create a digital ecosystem where children can learn, play, and grow safely—and where platforms are held accountable for the environments they create.