Don’t Outsource Judgment: Keeping Parents at the Center of Digital Safety

Online safety cannot be achieved through blanket bans. Throughout history, prohibitions seldom eliminate risk; they push danger into places we can’t see or regulate, exactly where it’s hardest to protect our kids. AB 1709 promises a front-door solution – barring youth under the age of 16 from creating or keeping accounts on a “covered platform” and compelling platforms to keep younger users off. But a front door without a back door is not safety; it is an illusion.

Conversations about online realities must accompany any policy. Parents and children need to have open, ongoing conversations, and children need to know that parents have full access to all of their devices and online activity. This is not about spying; it’s about trust that is verified through transparent practices and active monitoring. Then it is up to the parents to follow through and guide, as needed. Blanket prohibition is not the answer.

The tools that actually protect kids online are those that keep parents engaged rather than falsely reassured into stepping back: real transparency about what platforms show young users, support for the conversations families need to have, and policies that treat parents as the decision-makers instead of an afterthought. California should invest in informed, empowered families- not in a mandate that lets everyone, including lawmakers, feel like the job is done.

A practical safety design recognizes the balance between visibility and autonomy. Requiring platforms to link youth accounts to a parent account with clear, ongoing transparency gives families the context they need. We must also accept the reality that some actors (young and old) will attempt to conceal behavior. Therefore, effective safety policies must combine transparency with education, age-appropriate protections, and robust monitoring that respects family judgment – never substitutes it.

I don’t doubt the good intentions behind AB 1709. The lawmakers carrying it want the same outcome I want: kids who are safer than they are today. No rule replaces a parent’s judgment, but a moderated platform that supports families, rather than a blanket ban, offers a far more reliable path to safety. As this bill moves through the Senate, legislators should ask a difficult but essential question: will this actually prevent a determined teen from encountering harmful content, or will it falsely reassure millions of parents that the job is done for them?

If the answer is the latter, AB 1709 isn’t protecting our kids. It’s protecting the people who passed it. Our children and the parents who know them best deserve more than that. The Alliance for Personalized Learning Education stands for policies that empower families with transparency, age-appropriate safeguards, and a collaborative approach to safety – because effective protection is built through partnership, not censorship.