• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, January 13, 2023

The American Psychological Association is backing advocacy groups' request that the Federal Trade Commission prohibit tech platforms from designing their services in ways that encourage young users to spend more time online.

“The mental health impacts of social media are increasingly known,” the organization writes in comments filed Thursday with the FTC. “Users, especially children, are being manipulated by platforms with increasingly exploitative design features and practices that are influencing behaviors and endangering privacy.”

The group goes on to urge the FTC to pass regulations “prohibiting prevalent design features that maximize minors’ engagement with online platforms and are categorically unfair.”

The organization's comments come in response to a petition filed last year by Fairplay, the Center for Digital Democracy and 19 other organizations. The groups argued to the agency that online platforms deploy “sophisticated design features that maximize their users’ time and activities,” and that those features “often transform minors’ online experience into a harmful one.”

The American Psychological Association contends in its filing that exposure to some online material “is associated with strong risk factors for eating disorders, unhealthy weight-management behaviors, and depression.”

Others, including the tech industry group Computer & Communications Industry Association, oppose Fairplay's request.

The approach advocated by Fairplay and other watchdogs “undermines the ability of adolescents to educate themselves and others,” the Computer & Communications Industry Association writes.

The organization argues that the petition seeking new regulations doesn't establish a link between specific practices of social media companies and injuries to consumers.

“Petitioners only provide a wide range of anecdotal evidence of alleged negative effects to users or speculate about possible risks posed to 'heavy users of digital media,'” the business group writes.

The organization adds that the FTC Act “requires proof of more than some theoretical harm to justify labeling a certain act or practice as unlawful.”

California recently passed a law requiring online companies likely to be accessed by users under 18 to prioritize their “best interests” and “well-being."

The tech industry group NetChoice is challenging that law in court, arguing that the measure violates the federal and state constitutions.

NetChoice contends that terms like “best interests,” “well-being” and “harmful” are inherently subjective, which will lead companies to err on the side of suppressing content.