Senate Committee on the Judiciary “Protecting Innocence in a Digital World” Testimony of Christopher Chris McKenna Founder and CEO Protect Young Eyes July 9 2019 Chairman Graham Ranking Member Feinstein and members of the Committee thank you for allowing all of us to speak today I cannot think of a more noble cause for all of us to be spending our time on today than the safety and protection of our children #forthekids right I began Protect Young Eyes five years ago because the internet is complex and even diligent parents are overwhelmed by the digital choices their children are facing Through thousands of hours of research hundreds of presentations at schools around the country and dozens of articles examining digital trends we have witnessed both the wonderful potential and the troubling and pervasive darkness that exists in the pockets of millions of young people today I’m certain that in the course of today’s discussion we will hear difficult stories I wish they were uncommon In March 2019 CNN reported that Instagram was the leading social media platform for child grooming by sexual predators1 Our own test accounts quickly discovered that young people particularly young girls can be hunted like prey We started an Instagram account with two stock photos and tried to mimic the behavior of an average teen girl We posted two selfies with three hashtags each searched a few hashtags and liked a few photos Within a week we had dozens of men sending us images of their penises telling us they were horny and sending us pornography through direct messages Even after we told all of them that we were “only 12 ” They were relentless A recent poll of 2 000 teens found that nearly 75% of them had received pornographic direct messages from strangers 2 even if they had a private account But you won’t find any warnings in the app store descriptions for Instagram that mention anything about sexual predators direct message risks or pornography Instagram’s defaults are not set for child safety or data privacy even though Instagram is rated 12 by Apple and 13 by Google At Protect Young Eyes we’ve also seen first-hand the predatory symbiotic relationship that exists between Instagram and Snapchat both used by 75% of all teens3 Many Instagram predators quickly shuttle kids over to Snapchat where evidence disappears For example one relentless pedophile on Instagram who calls himself “Daddy ” invites young girls to join him in Snapchat with Instagram posts like “12 slave girls” “Obedient whores only” or “Hit me up on Snap to be daddy’s naughty girl ” 1 Christopher Chris McKenna Protect Young Eyes #fixappratings Snapchat is where explicit content on Pornhub lives just seconds away from every user through backdoors within the app The app knowingly allows a well-documented list of porn performers to make thousands of dollars daily through their premium Snap accounts4 Snapchat is where harmless looking face filters can encourage kids to share their location on Snap Map It’s the app that gave a Coors beer ad to a 13-year-old even though they tout “age-gating ” 5 It’s the app where every kid regardless of age has access to the Discover news section where they are taught how to have anal sex how to sell drugs how to hide internet activity from parents using incognito mode and details about the latest sex toys But again you won’t find anything in Snapchat’s app store descriptions that warn parents about premium Snapchat accounts predator risks of using Snap Maps or the mature and sexualized content in Discover news Snapchat is rated 12 by Apple and 13 by Google Tech companies will tell us that ratings are already in place however ratings are not uniform lack transparency and there’s little accountability for inaccurate ratings For example Twitter was rated 4 for a decade even with porn everywhere It is still breaking Apple and Google’s no porn policy but only claims “infrequent mild sexual content” in the app description Netflix is rated 4 in Apple’s App Store and Teen in Google Play VPNs which allow teens to circumvent parental controls are rated 4 Most social media platforms are rated 12 by Apple even though COPPA the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act restricts use by children until age 13 Obviously the current app ratings process is broken Tech companies will tell us that protecting kids is a parent’s responsibility However this position ignores the ubiquitous nature of the internet Even if I do everything right to protect my daughter with almost 90% of teens owning a smart device6 a simple ride on the bus or a visit to a friend’s house can expose her to life-altering content Never before in human history have young people had the ability to so radically change the trajectory of each other’s lives so quickly Tech companies will tell us that safeguards are already in place but it currently takes over 30 steps to properly set up parental controls on an iPhone We need to simplify this process to help more parents protect their children For example better age-based defaults would instantly and easily protect millions of kids The addition of easy controls over school and bedtime could shut off distracting apps during these critical times Tech companies will tell us that regulating apps is too big of a job It can’t be done However video games are already successfully doing it and the ESRB shows us a path that could be applied by reasonable individuals to apps In fact it was Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who said “I believe we need a more active role for governments and regulators ”7 We agree 2 Christopher Chris McKenna Protect Young Eyes #fixappratings Our hope is to create safer digital places for young people Two simple solutions could change everything8 1 Create a uniform independent and accountable rating system and 2 Enact better defaults based on the age provided during device and app setup Let’s fix this #forthekids Thank you and I look forward to your questions End Notes 1 Picheta Rob March 1 2019 “Instagram is leading social media site for child grooming” Blog post Retrieved March 5 2019 from https www cnn com 2 This poll was performed by Collin Kartchner on his personal Instagram account Visit Collin at https collinkartchner com 3 The Associated Press “Instagram and Snapchat are the most popular social media networks for teens” Survey Retrieved April 14 2019 from http www apnorc org projects 4 McKenna Chris June 30 2019 “Warning Pornhub is on Snapchat And parents have no idea” Blog post Retrieved June 30 2019 from https protectyoungeyes com 5 McKenna Chris June 7 2019 “A complete guide to Snapchat filters” Blog post Retrieved June 30 2019 from https protectyoungeyes com 6 Bauer Ted October 5 2018 “89% of teens own smartphones–what does that mean for marketers ” Blog post Retrieved April 13 2019 from http www info analytics com 7 Zuckerberg Mark March 30 2019 “Mark Zuckerberg The internet needs new rules Let’s start in these four areas” Article Retrieved July 5 2019 from https www washingtonpost com 8 Please visit https fixappratings com for more details about our complete Fix App Ratings campaign including additional evidence news and allies that support our movement 3 Christopher Chris McKenna Protect Young Eyes #fixappratings