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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, Scores of experts have warned the U.S. Congress |
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about the pressing need to protect children and adolescents from |
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social media harms; and |
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WHEREAS, Over the course of five hearings, the Senate |
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Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data |
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Security received abundant testimony about the severe impacts |
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social media platforms can have on brain development and mental |
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health; problems noted by experts include hazardous substance use, |
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eating disorders, bullying, anxiety, depression, and self-harm; |
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Meta whistleblower Frances Haugen provided a trove of the company's |
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internal research showing that its products have negative impacts |
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on children, especially teenage girls, and that the company |
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downplayed this troubling information and made but minimal efforts |
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to mitigate damage; she implored Congress to take action; and |
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WHEREAS, In a June 2022 letter, American Psychological |
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Association Services, Mental Health America, and more than 100 |
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other organizations told the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, |
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Science, and Transportation that the growing mental health crisis |
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among America's youth is exacerbated by social media platforms |
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designed in ways that increase exposure to harmful content and |
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encourage unhealthy patterns of use; adolescence involves |
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neurological changes that promote cravings for social attention, |
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feedback, and status, the letter stated, and young users can find it |
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difficult to abstain from social media, even when they recognize |
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that it is making them feel terrible about themselves; and |
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WHEREAS, The internet is a comparatively new form of media, |
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and during its short history, Congress has struggled to understand |
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the full breadth of its impact and determine how best to prevent |
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negative consequences; though it aimed to safeguard those under the |
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age of 13 with the passage of the Children's Online Privacy |
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Protection Act of 1998, Congress has yet to address the many issues |
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that have arisen in the intervening quarter century; and |
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WHEREAS, Crafting legislation to prevent children from |
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accessing harmful content has proven a particularly challenging |
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endeavor, given the need to accommodate First Amendment concerns; |
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laws targeting specific categories of speech based on content are |
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subject to the exacting "strict scrutiny" standard of judicial |
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review, and the courts have previously struck down as |
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unconstitutional statutes seeking to criminalize the provision of |
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harmful internet content to minors; however, federal case law does |
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recognize certain circumstances in which Congress may restrict |
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children's access to particular types of information, depending on |
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such factors as existence of a demonstrable harm and assurances |
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that any restriction does not encumber more constitutionally |
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protected speech than is necessary; and |
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WHEREAS, When social media platforms fail to take |
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responsibility for the harms they cause, it is incumbent upon |
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lawmakers to step in, and although balancing legal protections with |
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First Amendment considerations will require extreme delicacy, the |
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health, safety, and well-being of children and adolescents are too |
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important to leave to the vagaries of algorithms designed to |
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protect profits, not children; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 88th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to pass |
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legislation to protect children from the harms of social media; |
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and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the |
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Senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the |
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Texas delegation to the Congress with the request that this |
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resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a |
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memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |