Students lobby for online protections in Annapolis

BALTIMORE — Teenagers lobbied lawmakers Friday in support of a bill designed to protect children and teens online.

"To us, that means having control of what happens online," George Washington University student Arielle Geismar said. "Currently, large tech companies are using our data. They're tracking young people. And, they're using the materials we have and what we do on social media for their own profit."

HB901 passed the Maryland House of Delegates last week. Its Senate version.  SB844 still needs a vote.

The bill is dubbed the "Age Appropriate Design Code Act." Its sponsors say it is meant to force tech companies to build their products with children's health, safety, and privacy protections in mind. It would restrict data collection and profiling children and turn off geotracking.

"We want you do look at products at the potential harm it could do to kids and make sure that doesn't happen," Del. Jared Solomon, a Democrat from Montgomery County, said. "How do we create an online space that's safe for our young people in a way that furthers the positive benefits of the internet?"

In a recent study, researchers posed as 13-year-old TikTok users searching and "liking" mental health videos. They say TikTok pushed potentially "harmful content," on average, every 39 seconds.

The bill would require Google default to Safe Search settings and disable autoplay by default on YouTube for children under 18. It would also require TikTok to turn off strangers' ability to message children.