The act was introduced to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on April 30 as part of the Kids Off Social Media Act, a bipartisan bill that aims to block social media platforms on school networks, prevent children younger than 13 from creating or maintaining a social media account, and ban algorithmic recommendation systems for social media users younger than 17.
The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), a professional association for K-12 ed-tech leaders, along with the State Educational Technology Directors Association, the American Library Association, and the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition, submitted a letter to the Senate commerce committee in May opposing the Eyes on the Board Act.
“While we share the sponsors’ concerns about protecting children from social media’s potential harms, using E-rate to force schools to police students’ social media use is misguided and burdensome, especially for under-resourced districts,” CoSN CEO Keith Krueger said in a public statement. “Local communities, not the federal government, are best positioned to set appropriate technology use policies for their schools.”
According to an FAQ section on the website of one of the bill’s main sponsors, the Eyes on the Board Act would use the same compliance process as the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). Under CIPA law, any school that receives E-rate funding must be able to provide documentation of the steps they have taken or are taking to block or filter Internet access to obscene content on school networks.
With Eyes on the Board, schools that receive E-rate funding would need to be able to provide documentation of their efforts to block or filter access to social media platforms on school networks. Otherwise, they could be denied or asked to return E-rate funds.
For now, the Kids Off Social Media Act remains in the Senate commerce committee. Reg Leichty, CoSN’s outside counsel and lobbyist, said he believes opposition to Eyes on the Board gave legislators cause to pause and rethink their approach to solving social media problems.
“Are there challenges with social media use? Absolutely. We see them every day in our schools,” Leichty said. “Is the Eyes on the Board Act the way to address that issue? We don’t think so.”
Instead of banning social media platforms on school networks, Leichty said he hopes legislators will take steps to help schools get to the root of their social media problems, such as implementing an account verification process for districts and their personnel, and creating a clear way for districts to ask social media companies to take action when an account is making threats against a school or student.
