Another Failed Attempt By Congress To Help Control The Evils Of Social Media

In 2019 U.S. Senator goes after Socially Engineered Web Addictions

Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) Introduced Legislation To Curb Addictive And Deceptive Techniques That Tech Giants Use To Exploit Users.

STATUS UPDATED – May 2021

This legislation is effectively dead. Lobbies for the tech industry effectively killed this attempt to improve social media.

While this legislation is technically paused – on hold in the U.S. Congress – there is little likelihood that it will ever go forward.

Check current status here: S.2314 – 116th Congress (2019-2020): SMART Act | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

SCARS™ REGULATORY ALERT: U.S. Senator goes after Socially Engineered Web Addictions

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Today Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) Introduced Legislation To Curb Addictive And Deceptive Techniques That Tech Giants Use To Exploit Users.

THE SOCIETY OF CITIZENS AGAINST RELATIONSHIP SCAMSSCARS SCARS - Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. A government registered crime victims' assistance & crime prevention nonprofit organization based in Miami, Florida, U.S.A. SCARS supports the victims of scams worldwide and through its partners in more than 60 countries around the world. Incorporated in 2015, its team has 30 years of continuous experience educating and supporting scam victims. Visit www.AgainstScams.org to learn more about SCARS. SUPPORTS THIS LEGISLATION

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Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology (SMART) Act

The Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology (SMART) Act would ban certain features that are designed to be addictive, would require choice parity for consent, and would give users the power to monitor their time spent on social media.

Senator Hawley said, “Big tech has embraced a business model of addiction. Too much of the ‘innovation’ in this space is designed not to create better products, but to capture more attention by using psychological tricks that make it difficult to look away. This legislation will put an end to that and encourage true innovation by tech companies.”

Josh Golin, Executive Director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, said, “Social media companies deploy a host of tactics designed to manipulate users in ways that undermines their wellbeing. We commend Senator Hawley for introducing legislation that would prohibit some of the most exploitative tactics, including those frequently deployed on children and teens.”

BACKGROUND

Social media is designed to exploit human psychology and brain physiology.

Social media is sold to us as a way to connect with distant friends and relatives.

But tech giants don’t stop there. They design platforms with a bottom-line goal in mind: Capture as much of our attention as possible and immediately sell that attention to advertisers.

Natural Stopping Points

Tech giants exploit the science of addiction [SOCIAL ENGINEERINGSocial Engineering Social engineering is the psychological manipulation of people into performing actions or divulging confidential information. It is used as a type of confidence trick for the purpose of information gathering, fraud, or system access, it differs from a traditional "con" in that it is often one of many steps in a more complex fraud scheme. It has also been defined as "any act that influences a person to take any action that may or may not be in their best interests."] to put up as many obstacles as possible to keep us on their platforms. Natural stopping points, like the end of a page, naturally prompt users to choose whether to continue reading. But tech giants eliminate these mental opportunities by using structures like infinite scroll for newsfeeds and autoplay for videos.

It’s working. Social media companies capture far more of our attention than they used to.

Users now spend on average 2:08:00 a day on social media, up from 1:22:00 in 2012—a 56% increase.

WHAT SENATOR HAWLEY’S BILL DOES

• Bans infinite scroll, autoplay, and other addictive features on social mediaInfinite scroll, autoplay, and “achievements” such as “Snapstreak” exploit the science of addiction to make it difficult to leave a social media platform
• Exceptions include music playlists, social media predominantly designed to stream music, and “achievement” badges that substantially increase access to new services or functionality
• Social media platforms would have to include natural stopping points
• Requires choice parity for consent
• Companies would no longer be allowed to manipulate people into consenting by making it difficult to decline consent
• Companies would have to design “accept” and “decline” boxes using the same formats, fonts, and sizes
• Gives the FTCFTC The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) U.S. antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC can also act as a clearinghouse for criminal reports sent to other agencies for investigation and prosecution. To learn more visit www.FTC.gov or to report fraud visit ReportFraud.FTC.gov and HHS authority to ban other similar practices
• Rules would expire after 3 years unless ratified by Congress
• Gives users the power to monitor and control their use time on social media
• Social media companies must provide an in-app tool that enables users to track the time they spend on social media across all devices and allows users to impose caps on the amount of time they spend

The Society Of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Supports This Legislation!

Impact On ScamsScams A Scam is a confidence trick - a crime -  is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust through deception. Scams or confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility, or greed and exploiting that. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men' - criminals) at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". A scam is a crime even if no money was lost.

In addition to the stated goals of the SMART Act, it will also have a positive impact on reducing online scams – especially those that are propagated on social media.

By helping users of social media reduce and control their behaviors on social media, it will reduce addictive behaviors that open the door for scams and scamming, and also leave users less vulnerable to the additional suggestion and ready for manipulation. We believe this will empower social media users to be in a stronger state of mind so that few manipulations will succeed.

At this time it is impossible to estimate the full extent of this improvement since no clinical or academic studies have been performed as yet, but we believe this will be a measurable amount, possibly as high as 10% fewer victims – which would translate into an estimated 100,000 fewer scamScam A Scam is a confidence trick - a crime -  is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust through deception. Scams or confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility, or greed and exploiting that. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men' - criminals) at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". A scam is a crime even if no money was lost. victims per year if approved and fully implemented.

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