By Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul

We have no more important obligation as adults than to protect children.

Unlike adults who grew up before the internet revolution, when threats were easier to spot, social media has created a place where faceless predators and scam artists can too easily hide their identity.

As legislators, we feel the pressure every day to find ways to protect New Jersey’s kids. That’s why it is gratifying to report that the governor signed a package of bills into law two weeks ago that will help develop better protections for children online.

Two of those bills revolve around the creation of a Social Media Research Center to be established at a four-year public institution of higher education. The Center will do collaborative and interdisciplinary research to create and support the use of impartial, actionable science. It will advance understanding of how social media is used, explore ways of mitigating the negative impacts of social media, and promote healthy and responsible social media use. 

The Secretary of Higher Education will choose the four-year college or university to house the Social Media Research Center based on - at a minimum - institutional capacity, interest, and existing expertise. 

The companion legislation, which we also co-sponsored, requires the Social Media Research Center to research and make recommendations concerning addictive social media behaviors. To accomplish this the Center will collaborate with the Office of Youth Online Mental Health Safety and Awareness in the state Department of Health. Together, the Social Media Research Center and the DOH office will research the impact of addictive social media behaviors among children and minors on public health. The effort will include designing warning labels on online services to reduce addictive social media behaviors. They will also explore the impact, if any, of including mandatory disclaimers concerning addictive social media behaviors. 

The other bill in our package that the governor signed into law is the "New Jersey Kids Code Act", which adopts New Jersey Age-Appropriate Design Code in requiring online service providers to implement measures concerning minors' use of online service. The Act requires an online service provider to give children and minors default settings for safeguards that provide the highest protection available. It prohibits reducing or prompting a child or minor to reduce certain privacy settings. 

The "New Jersey Kids Code Act" also creates requirements and prohibitions concerning the collection and use of a child’s or minor’s personal data. The Act requires service providers to establish a prominent and accessible user interface to enable a child, minor, and their parents to report any harms they experience while using the online service. 

We also are happy to report that the governor signed the “Shield Law” we have championed for the past year. This law, which was co-sponsored by our LD11 partner, Senator Vin Gopal, secures protections for patients and providers of healthcare services, including reproductive healthcare services. 

We are proud to have been part of making these new laws possible as we continue to work to make New Jersey safer, more equitable, and more affordable for all residents.

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