The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is planning to hire at least one child psychologist to assist in the creation of internet regulation, as per Democratic Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya.
FTC to Assess the Impact of Internet on Children
FTC has been eyeing to push online protections for kids and teens across the U.S. government. Some federal and state lawmakers have been proposing new legislation that will hopefully make the internet a safer place for younger people such as implementing stronger age authentication and putting more responsibility on tech companies.to strengthen their platforms for younger users.
"Our plan is to hire one or more child psychologists to help us assess the mental health impacts of what children and young people do online," FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar shared with CNBC. Farrar also confirmed that the commission is still exploring the next steps such as how many should they hire and when will they open the application.
Bedoya also hoped that adding a child psychologist onboard with FTC would send a strong signal to law enforcement agencies in the U.S. that having such experts in-house is a standing capacity. "This is valuable for the question of harm's causation. And it's valuable for the question of damages," he added.
FTC Learns from CMA
In the U.K. the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the one handling the internet regulation. According to Bedoya, he learned from observing CMA's approach to issues in social media. The CMA has behavioral teams comprised of psychologists who are a key part of looking into various issues.
Moreover, Bedoya explained that by hiring an expert, the FTC will be more capable of assessing allegations around social media and mental health. At the same time, the commission will be able to track and evaluate certain patterns and deceptive practices online.
FTC will start hiring only a handful of child psychologists but it is expected that the number will steadily grow as the commission moves toward the children's online safety and mental health.
