Opinion > Opinions - Technology The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill Families deserve a fair shot at protecting children online, not more of the same by Jake Auchincloss, opinion contributor - 03/01/26 1:00 PM ET by Jake Auchincloss, opinion contributor - 03/01/26 1:00 PM ET Share ✕ LinkedIn LinkedIn Email Email Images of deceased children are displayed at the ‘Lost Screen Memorial’, an art installation of large-scale smartphones featuring 50 children who lost their lives due to online harm, in Los Angeles, California on February 13, 2026. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP via Getty Images) Australia just  banned social media for kids under 16 . Congress is debating how to regulate the smartphone apps our own children spend  five hours a day  using.  As a father of three young children who serves on the committee of jurisdiction in Congress, this debate is both personal and political. Social media corporations are attention-fracking our children. Parents deserve more power. My bill, the  Parents Over Platforms Act , gives parents that power. But Meta is lobbying hard against it. Mark Zuckerberg’s lobbyists are pushing, instead, for the  App Store Accountability Act . The bills are head-to-head in committee. It’s parents versus Meta. At stake is who should be trusted to watch out for children online. My view: Parents should be trusted. Congress must force Facebook and the other apps — Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat — to be liable for respecting what parents decide is appropriate for their kids. The Parents Over Platforms Act achieves that in three ways. First, from a family account, a parent sets up the app store account for their child’s smartphone. Next, for the app store account, the parent sets an indicator for their child’s age range. This age signal includes no personal information. It only transmits the child’s broad age range.  From then on, apps that provide different experiences based on a user’s age are liable to abide by that age signal. For example, pornography and gambling apps are prohibited for users under 18. Social media apps would be blocked for users under 13 based on existing  online privacy protection laws , which I’m trying to make a minimum of 16. By contrast, Meta’s preferred bill puts the burden on families and lets apps forgo proactive protections for kids. Instead of sending one set-and-forget anonymous age signal like in my bill, parents and children would have to identify themselves for each app, each time it updates. That identification would require intrusive verification, like government IDs or facial scanning. Limited controls are in place to keep apps from misusing and selling that personal data, while the bill allows any app to request age data from the app store, even those with no need for age information like weather forecasts or calculators.  A court has already  blocked a Texas law , the state-level version of Meta’s bill, from taking effect due to constitutionality concerns. The judge  criticized  not only its restraint on protected speech, but also its arbitrary exemption of certain apps. Pre-loaded, virtual reality and gaming content are all exempt. Meta’s lawyers are boosting a bill that its software engineers are ready to exploit. If this sounds unworkable, that’s the point. Meta is waging a false flag operation. It knows its federal bill will immediately be litigated on free speech and privacy grounds, which will slow down, demoralize and disorient genuine reformers.  If ever enacted — even better. Families will throw up their hands in frustration. Consent fatigue and confusion will cement a status quo in which children are hooked on scrolling, while parents remain unaware of whom their kids are messaging or what they’re watching. Chatrooms and direct messaging pose some of the largest risks to online kids safety, making up  nearly 90 percent  of online sexual advances toward kids. Meta is recruiting friends and targeting foes in this operation. It’s  building a data center in Louisiana  to curry favor with the Speaker of the House and readying  millions for Super PACs  to intimidate legislators. Congress must stop flinching from this hardball and start standing up for parents.  My legislation is bipartisan, co-led by another parent, Rep. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.), who is fed up with the reckless arrogance of the social media corporations. The Parents Over Platforms Act is a critical piece of legislation for reclaiming power for parents. They deserve easy-to-use tools to safeguard their children against the merchants and miners of digital dopamine.  Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) has served as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts’s 4th congressional district since 2021. Add as preferred sourc