In New Policy Statement, American Academy of Pediatrics Sounds Alarm about Impact of Harmful Platform Design for Kids

On January 20, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) stepped into the ongoing debate over how to keep kids safe online, recommending platform design regulation as a tentpole intervention. The AAP published an evidence-based Policy Statement on Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents whose recommendations include changing the ways online platforms are designed, which mirrors regulatory interventions promoted by EPIC. The AAP’s suggestions contradict industry talking points that promoting safe design practices for kids is misguided “technological solutionism” and that the burden of ensuring a healthy online experience should fall solely on parents.

The AAP’s Policy Statement highlighted the importance of child- and adolescent-centered platform design. Similar to EPIC, the AAP warns that usage-maximizing design practices harm kids. The Policy Paper explains that designs that “prioritize engagement and commercialization often encourage prolonged use, which in turn can displace healthy behaviors (e.g., movement behaviors, sleep) and contribute to negative outcomes.”

Like EPIC, the AAP specifically calls out high-risk design features including endless scroll, voluminous default push notifications, intermittent variable reward systems built into content delivery, and usage-maximizing algorithms, all of which contribute to compulsive use and other harms.These platform design strategies deprive minors of their autonomy, taking control of their online experiences out of their hands and subjecting them to heightened health, privacy, and data security risks.

The AAP’s Policy Statement reinforces concepts central to EPIC’s Platform Accountability & Governance Program work. Platforms should be required to create child-centered experiences free of harmful and manipulative designs by default and to give kids the highest degree of privacy protection possible. This is why EPIC has supported laws that do exactly that, such as the New York SAFE for Kids Act and the Vermont Age Appropriate Design Code. In a statement to ABC news, AAP’s Dr. Hansa Bhargava explained why their Policy Statement and research has moved beyond solely focusing on screentime controls: “Today’s digital world isn’t just TV – it’s an immersive ecosystem designed to keep kids engaged as long as possible.”

EPIC believes that pushing all responsibility for healthy online experiences on kids and their parents—the tech industry’s preferred method—is ineffective and harmful. So are proposals to block kids’ access to social media altogether, to give parents complete visibility into their kids’ messages and interactions, or to label and block harmful content, which can present First Amendment concerns. Pediatricians supporting the push to change platform design practices should help convince policymakers of the right way forward.

To learn more about EPIC’s Platform Accountability & Governance Program, visit our website.