Monkeybusinessimages | Istock | Getty Images
The Federal Trade Commission plans to hire at least one child psychologist who can guide its work on Internet regulation, Democratic Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya told The Record in an interview published Monday.
FTC Chair Lina Khan supports the project, Bedoya told the outlet, adding that he hopes it can become a reality by next fall, although the commission does not yet have a timeline accurate.
“Our plan is to hire one or more child psychologists to help us assess the mental health impacts of what children and youth do online,” FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar said. to CNBC in a statement. “We are currently exploring next steps, including how many people to hire and when.”
The FTC’s plan is indicative of broader action within the U.S. government focused on protecting children and teens online. Federal and state lawmakers have proposed new legislation that they say will make the Internet safer by requiring stricter age authentication or putting more responsibility on tech companies to design safe products for younger users. The U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory in May that youth use of social media poses significant mental health risks.
Bedoya, who founded the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown University Law Center, said the plan reflects the FTC’s approach as an “end-to-end expert agency.” This follows the agency’s earlier decisions to add economists to its ranks of lawyers and, later, technologists.
Bedoya told The Record that it “is absolutely part of this tradition of systematically expanding our expertise.”
Bedoya envisions an in-house child psychologist being a useful resource for commissioners like himself.
“If I have an economic question, I can ask it to 80 PhD economists,” he told The Record. “If someone makes an allegation about mental health issues, I don’t have full-time staff who are experts in psychology.”
While Bedoya said the FTC can already get advice from ad hoc consultants, hiring a child psychologist on staff “can send a strong signal to other law enforcement agencies in the United States by saying we need to have these people in-house, so that it’s a permanent status.” ability.”
These experts could provide important information that helps connect a cause to alleged harm and shed light on the appropriate damages the agency is seeking, Bedoya said. He added that child psychologists could help the FTC evaluate claims about how social media can affect mental health, as well as assess the effect of dark patterns or other misleading characteristics.
Bedoya said the first recruits would likely be “psychological scientists” or “social psychologists,” who conduct research rather than assess children in clinical settings. Although he said he couldn’t “presuppose anything,” they would likely work on investigations, strategy and possibly rulemaking.
Read the full interview on The Record.
WATCH: X has become a cesspool of misinformation, says Aspen Institute’s Vivian Schiller
Don’t miss these CNBC PRO stories:
#FTC #plans #hire #child #psychologist #guide #internet #rules
Image Source : www.cnbc.com