Monkey Business Images | iStock | Getty Images
The Federal Trade Commission plans to hire at least one child psychologist to guide its efforts to regulate the internet, Democratic Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya said. record In an interview published Monday.
Bedoya told the outlet that FTC Chair Lina Khan supports the plan and that the commission does not have a firm timeline yet, but hopes to have it by next fall. added.
“Our plan is to hire one or more child psychologists to help assess the mental health effects of children and youth’s online behavior,” FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar told CNBC. said in a statement. “We are currently considering next steps, including how many people to hire and when.”
The FTC’s plan represents a broad effort across the U.S. government that focuses on protecting children and youth online. Federal and state lawmakers are pushing new legislation that could make the internet safer by requiring stronger age verification and increasing accountability for tech companies to design safe products for young people. is proposed. In May, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory stating that young people’s use of social media poses serious 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 a “deeply professional agency.” This follows the agency’s previous decision to add an economist and later an engineer to its staff of attorneys.
Bedoya told The Record that this is “definitely part of our tradition of systematically expanding our expertise.”
Bedoya envisions an in-house child psychologist to be a helpful resource for commissioners like himself.
“If you have economic questions, I have 80 PhD economists that you can ask,” he told The Record. “If someone is making a claim about mental health issues, I don’t have a full-time staff member who is a psychology expert.”
Bedoya said the FTC already has access to advice from temporary consultants, but hiring a child psychologist on staff “sends a strong signal that we need to have a child psychologist in-house.” “We can do it and we can keep it going.” capacity. “
Bedoya said these experts can provide important insights that link causes and claims of harm and inform the appropriate damages authorities seek. She said child psychologists can help the FTC evaluate claims about how social media can affect mental health and assess the impact of dark patterns and other deceptive traits. He added that there is a possibility.
Bedoya said the first hires are likely to be “psychological scientists” or “social psychologists” who conduct research rather than evaluate children in clinical settings. “I can’t assume anything,” he said, but will likely work on investigations, strategy and possibly rulemaking.
You can read the full interview here record.
WATCH: X has become a cesspool of misinformation and disinformation, says Aspen Institute’s Vivian Schiller
