State Sen. Rezin wants to protect kids from effects of social media

Meghan Martin has seen firsthand the effect that social media can have on kids.

Martin is the principal of Premier Academy in Morris, an alternative school that serves Grundy and Kendall counties.

“Social media knows no hours,” she said. “As adults, you know you have to go to bed at a certain time to get up and go to work the next morning. The kids want to stay up and watch these videos that the algorithms are sending them because they’re interested in them, they’re engaged.

“So not only are you battling their mental health, you’re battling the students to get to school to learn. And the parents are facing these battles too, of getting the kids up and going.”

Martin spoke at a roundtable discussion hosted by state Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, at Yorkville Middle School on Wednesday as part of Rezin’s “Safe Screens, Health Minds” initiative. The discussion was the first in a series of roundtable discussions that Rezin plans to hold across the state to gather comments from parents, educators and mental health professionals.

Rezin said the input from the roundtable discussions will help her fine-tune the package of bills that she is proposing to address the issue.

“The bills will be aimed at holding social media companies accountable for the algorithms that they’re writing with the intention to addict minors,” she said. “We’re also going to compel the federal government to do the same.”

Earlier in the day, a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill held a hearing about the effects of social media on young people’s lives. The CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X and other social media companies were called on to testify at the hearing.

Rezin said one of her social media bills will keep the personal information of consumers private, “especially if you’re a minor,” she said.

Another bill will protect minors from social media algorithms. Companies would be prohibited from using a social media algorithm to target user-generated content on an account holder who is younger than 18.

A third bill would require social media companies to remove inappropriate content within a day’s time.

“If it is not taken down within a day, it gives the attorney general the authority to come in and fine the company $1,000 a day until it is handled, per occurrence,” Rezin said.

Rezin also is proposing a bill that would verify the identity of a user on a social media platform.

She is asking constituents for their thoughts as part of an online survey. The survey can be found at il-38-senate.web.fireside21.app/forms/form/?ID=9.