Should Your Social Media Be Censored?

When it comes to social media, there’s no limit to what you can see. Should that change?

September 2022

You’re happily watching cookie decorating TikToks when a video pops up that has nothing to do with baking—and that you wish you could un-see. A new bill called the Kids Online Safety Act would try to prevent that. The bill was introduced by senators in February. If it becomes law, social media companies would be required to block users under 16 from seeing content that promotes dangerous behavior. Parents would also have more control over their kids’ social media. People in favor of the law say that media companies should protect young users from content that might be harmful to their mental health. But people who oppose the law say that it would allow parents to spy on kids through their accounts and would be an invasion of privacy.

Yes

Social media should be censored. There are a lot of dangerous things on the internet that teens should not be exposed to, but it can be tough to avoid them. For example, if you’re watching a video, other videos will sometimes play automatically, and the content is not always appropriate. Searching on social media can also give you results that include toxic or disturbing content. It’s hard to know what you’ll see until you start watching, so it would be better not to be able to see harmful content in the first place.

No

Teens need privacy when we’re on social media. We need to be able to use our favorite apps without our parents, or tech companies, always looking over our shoulders. If companies censor the content teens see online, they take away the opportunity for us to decide for ourselves what content is helpful and what is harmful. Teens can only learn this by being exposed to a range of content, including some that some people might find offensive. We need more media, not less.