N.J. Panel Passes Bill Targeting Social Media Addiction
New Jersey’s Assembly Health Committee unanimously passed legislation Monday that would hold social media platforms liable when they engage in activity that causes users under the age of 18 to “become addicted” to their services.
Though members expressed concern about the vagueness of definitions for terms like “addictive” and “platform,” Chairman Herb Conaway (D), who authored A-5069, said it’s up to states to get the ball rolling, given congressional dysfunction. It’s a “crisis” affecting youth and teens, particularly teen girls, he said, citing statistics showing increases in depression, anxiety and body dysmorphism. The legislation would allow state attorney general enforcement and a private right of action, so families of social media-related victims could sue platforms.
TechNet, the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and the New Jersey Business & Industry Association recorded opposition to the bill. NJBIA Vice President-Government Affairs Ray Cantor testified the legislation will result in “profit-driven” lawsuits and frivolous litigation. The attorney general should be the only one with the authority to bring cases against platforms, said Cantor. It’s a “complicated” bill with vague definitions that private law firms can manipulate, he said: The AG’s office would have a broader view of the legal ramifications.
Platforms are “writing people’s lives off as the cost of doing business,” and families should have protection from groups prepared to use the law, said Conaway: New Jersey needs to take “aggressive action.” He cited lawsuits from school system and county officials in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and San Mateo County, California, against social media platforms for harms caused to children. Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz (R) noted the state's Chatham school district filed a similar lawsuit against tech platforms. But she questioned how states can regulate social media algorithms when it seems like something that could be handled only at the federal level.
States have jurisdiction on health and safety, despite the commerce clause, said Conaway: States have a role, and New Jersey can help drive federal policy. He noted Congress acted in the past to address the tobacco industry’s manipulative tactics that result in addiction. The bill’s definition targets platforms that “knowingly, recklessly, or negligently cause addiction through any act or omission or any combination of acts or omissions.” It defines addiction as indicating “preoccupation or obsession with, or withdrawal or difficulty to cease or reduce the use of, a social media platform despite the child user’s desire to cease or reduce such use.”
Assemblyman Brian Rumpf (R) questioned the ability to properly define algorithms that cause addiction. Munoz said she also has concerns about defining such algorithms, saying there’s “work ahead.” But if this is a step toward protecting children on social media, it’s the right step to take, she said. Assemblywoman DeAnne DeFuccio (R) agreed there’s more work to do on bill language. The findings and language are going to be “fact-intensive,” said Conaway.
TechNet seeks amendments to the bill in conjunction with the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce. Neither group testified Monday, but they recorded their opposition on the record. Mary Abrams, senior health policy analyst at New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies, was on the record in support.