Republicans Seek To Limit Student Access to Social Media Sites

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Senate GOP members say E-Rate subsidies should not include money for TikTok on school buses

TikTok
(Image credit: TikTok)

Senate Republicans are trying to modify an effort by Federal Communications Commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel to allow broadband schools and libraries funding to be used for Wi-Fi broadband on school buses, which is part of the chair’s “Learn Without Limits” effort to close the homework gap.

The bill would not prohibit the subsidies, but it would make sure that such use of broadband does not extend to kids accessing social-media outlets like short-form video streaming site TikTok.

The FCC plans to vote on Rosenworcel’s proposal at its meeting Thursday (October 19).

In advance of that vote, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) have introduced the Eyes on the Board Act, which would prohibit children from accessing social media using subsidized services, devices or networks.

“The proposed expansion of funding is not only unlawful (the Commission has no authority to extend support to school buses without congressional direction) but would make the federal government complicit in enabling unsupervised access to distracting and addictive social media apps like TikTok and Instagram on kids’ bus rides to and from school,” the senators asserted.

Currently, under the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), recipients of the FCC's E-Rate schools and libraries funding must certify that they have software to block children’s access to obscenity, child pornography and other sexual content, but there’s no requirement to prevent access to social media sites.

The legislation would:

  1. “Limit kids’ use of distracting and addictive social media apps or websites at school by prohibiting schools or school districts from receiving E-Rate or Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) subsidies unless they prohibit access to social media on subsidized services, devices, and networks;”
  2. “Promote parental limits and transparency on screen time in schools by requiring schools receiving E-Rate subsidies to adopt a screen time policy as a condition of receiving federal funding;”
  3. “Provide parents and the public with needed transparency by requiring the FCC to create a database of schools’ internet safety policies.”
John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.