What I got right about tech last year—and what’s coming next
Issue #113
If you follow the conversations around kids and tech, you’ve probably noticed a shift. A lot of the issues I wrote about last year—COPPA reform, age verification and the growing risks of social media—are hotter topics than ever. And while I’m not a psychic, it turns out some of my predictions came true. So, let’s take a look at what’s happened so far and what I think is coming next.
COPPA is getting a facelift
Last year, I wrote that there was bipartisan appetite to update COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act), which hasn’t been meaningfully revised since 1998. Given the overwhelming concern about youth mental health and online safety, I suspected we’d see serious momentum for reform.
Sure enough, the Federal Trade Commission announced proposed changes aimed at shifting the burden of online safety from parents to platforms. These updates include default restrictions on targeted advertising for kids and limits on personal data collection.
But the bigger conversation? Raising the age limit. I predicted that we’d see serious discussion about increasing the COPPA age from 13 to 16 or even 18—and that’s exactly what’s happening. COPPA 2.0 raises the age from 13 to 17. And, lawmakers are increasingly pushing for higher age limits. Australia is taking the lead in restricting social media access for kids under 16, and I wonder if California could be next.
The age verification problem is front and center
One of my other predictions was that the push to raise age limits would be meaningless if kids could just lie about their age. That’s why I expected a major focus on age verification—and here we are.
A lot of the new proposed safety measures, and even potential platform bans, hinge on verifying users’ ages. But as I wrote last year, this isn’t a simple fix. Many of the proposed age verification methods could create major privacy concerns, and there’s still no universal system that satisfies both regulators and privacy advocates (though some experts have argued that Big Tech just isn’t trying very hard to find one). There’s a huge opportunity for an innovative company to solve this challenge in a way that actually works.
Big Tech’s pushback against legislation
I often write about how Big Tech companies are laser-focused on profit and do everything they can to maximize that—including pushing back against legislation meant to protect kids. When age verification laws or restrictions on targeted ads for children come up, Big Tech companies lobby aggressively to water them down. They frame these laws as threats to user privacy, innovation and even free speech, when in reality, they’re protecting their bottom line.
We’ve seen this play out with COPPA reforms and KOSA, where tech giants have fought hard to maintain the status quo. They don’t want the responsibility of age verification because it could reduce their user base, limit engagement and impact ad revenue. And until there are real consequences—beyond fines they can easily absorb—they’ll continue to resist meaningful change.
Predictions for what’s next in kid tech
It’ll get harder for Big Tech to operate like they have been
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is likely to be signed into law. Once it is, I expect we’ll see increased scrutiny on companies that violate these regulations. The fines will go up, but they’ll probably never be high enough to make a real dent in Big Tech’s revenue.
That said, raising the age limit to 17—if that does indeed happen—might force companies to rethink their approach to younger users. Platforms like Facebook Messenger Kids (and the non-starter Instagram for Kids) have always been loss leaders—ways to get kids into their ecosystems early. But as scrutiny increases and fines grow, running these platforms may no longer be worth it. You can see this calculus already in play with the way Meta rolled back Facebook Messenger Kids in the EU. With mounting legal and reputational risks, I doubt Meta would even float the idea of Instagram for Kids today.
I’ll be the first to admit that building platforms for younger users is hard work. There are a lot of regulations to navigate and it’s crucial to do it right. But I believe it’s worth it to give out kids access to safer platforms built for their wellbeing. And if Big Tech retreats from catering to younger users, it will create space for companies like ours to do things properly.
The conversation on kids’ safety will get more nuanced
Up until now, a lot of the debate has been about broad-stroke solutions—raising age limits, banning certain platforms and tightening privacy laws. But I think we’re about to see the conversation shift toward two key areas:
The role of algorithms in kids’ platforms: We’ll hear more about how platforms design experiences that prey on user behavior and exploit personal data.
The ethics of ad-driven business models for kids: Lawmakers and advocates will focus on how these platforms profit from children’s attention and whether that should even be allowed.
Social media will continue to lose its utility
Social media is a bit of a mess at the moment. And it’s only getting worse. Moderation is taking a backseat as platforms lean harder on free speech arguments. That means we’re likely to see more conspiracy theories, more extremism and more toxicity. It’s already hard to have a shared reality when different people are fed wildly different narratives online. And thanks to readily available AI, misinformation is becoming even more rampant. All that means that trusting what you see on social media is going to get even harder.
At some point, these platforms will lose their ability to function as reliable news sources (if they haven’t already). As a result, people will start looking elsewhere—whether that’s private messaging apps or smaller curated communities.
Whether we’re looking backward or forward, one thing is clear: the pressure on Big Tech to clean up its act is only increasing. And that’s a good thing. Laws are changing, parents are more aware than ever and the old “engagement-at-all-costs” model is under fire.
As we navigate this next phase of our online lives, our job as parents is to stay informed, stay engaged and keep advocating for better options for our kids. The digital world is evolving fast, and the best thing we can do is make sure we’re evolving with it.
TL;DR
Too long; didn't read. It shouldn't be a full-time job to keep up on industry news, so here is a mercifully quick summary of some other notable developments:
Speaking of Big Tech fighting child safety laws: a proposed “Kids Code” in the state of Maryland is an attempt by lawmakers to make social media safer for younger users. Meta pledged to the state that they would not block the law—but they went back on their word. A lobbying group that represents Meta, Google and other Big Tech companies is suing the state to stop the law from happening. According to Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project, “Meta and other Big Tech giants pay NetChoice because it’s obviously unpopular to fund lawsuits against kids, but bottom line: Mark Zuckerberg is paying for this lawsuit.”
There’s a new AI chatbot on the block called DeepSeek. This Chinese-made AI platform apparently was much cheaper and faster to create than its American counterparts. But according to researchers, the platform failed big time during a jailbreak test. They used special prompts to try and get the bot to violate its safety guardrails—and they succeeded in 50 out of 50 cases. This led researchers to conclude that, “Yes, it might have been cheaper to build something here, but the investment has perhaps not gone into thinking through what types of safety and security things you need to put inside of the model.” Parents should use caution when introducing kids to all AI, but extra vigilance might be necessary with this platform.
And lastly
Here are a few more pieces of original writing from me and my team—just in case you're keen for more:
Kids love to game, and they love to chat while they do it. But, if your kids are using Discord to stay in touch while they play, you might want to check out this parent’s guide—and consider an alternative.
And, if your kids are relying on WhatsApp to stay in touch with friends and family, here’s a guide explaining why you might want to swap it out in favor of something kid-friendly.