S13E2: Why Online Harm to Kids Is Not an Accident

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In this episode of Age of AI, Medlir sits down with Melissa McKay, Founder of the Digital Childhood Institute. They examine how Big Tech platforms and app store gatekeepers have failed to protect kids online. From Google emailing children in order to remove parental controls, to deceptive app age ratings, we discuss how safety breakdowns are not accidents but predictable outcomes of misaligned incentives. Online harm to children is not inevitable. It appears to be designed, normalized, and protected by powerful systems that profit from inaction.

Links:

• Digital Childhood Institute
• Google’s Broken Promise of Safety
• Child Advocates File Landmark FTC Complaint Against Apple Over Pervasive Harms to Kids
• OpenAI, childrens’ advocates join forces on initiative to protect kids from chatbots
• Grok, CSAM, and the Gatekeepers Who Looked Away
• H.B. 273 Classroom Technology Amendments