CAI’s Ed Howard, Senior Policy Advocate, Quoted in The Sacramento Bee on Legislation to Protect Children on Social Media

SAN DIEGO (March 7, 2023) – University of San Diego (USD) School of Law Children’s Advocacy Institute’s (CAI) Ed Howard, Senior Policy Advocate, and Senior Counsel was quoted in The Sacramento Bee on SB 287 (Skinner), supported by CAI, a California bill to hold social media companies liable for harming children.

The tech industry has argued that the bill would punish companies rather than protect young people online. In addition, in a letter to the bill’s author Senator Nancy Skinner, TechNet alluded to a future legal battle over possible First Amendment violations.

According to Howard, “[t]here are cases that could be brought that might easily violate the First Amendment,but that doesn’t mean all cases would violate the First Amendment.” Beyond that, Howard said, passing the bill would motivate companies to do more to protect the health of young people who use their platforms. “There is currently every single profit-based incentive for social media companies to do whatever it takes, no matter what, to keep children on as long as possible,” he said.

To read the full article by Stephen Hobbs, click here.

About the Children’s Advocacy Institute

The Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI), founded at the nonprofit University of San Diego School of Law in 1989, is one of the nation's premiere academic, research, and advocacy organizations working to improve the lives of children and youth, with special emphasis on improving the child protection and foster care systems and enhancing resources that are available to youth aging out of foster care.

In its academic component, CAI trains law students and attorneys to be effective child advocates throughout their legal careers. Its Child Advocacy Clinic gives USD Law students three distinct clinical opportunities to advocate on behalf of children and youth, and its Dependency Counsel Training Program provides comprehensive training to licensed attorneys engaged in or contemplating Dependency Court practice.

CAI's research and advocacy component, conducted through its offices in San Diego, Sacramento, and Washington, D.C., seeks to leverage change for children and youth through impact litigation, regulatory and legislative advocacy, and public education. Active primarily at the federal and state levels, CAI's efforts are multi-faceted—comprehensively and successfully embracing all tools of public interest advocacy to improve the lives of children and youth. To support CAI’s work, please visit law.sandiego.edu/caigift.

About the University of San Diego School of Law

Each year, USD educates approximately 800 Juris Doctor and graduate law students from throughout the United States and around the world.  The law school is best known for its offerings in the areas of business and corporate law, constitutional law, intellectual property, international and comparative law, public interest law and taxation.

USD School of Law is one of the 84 law schools elected to the Order of the Coif, a national honor society for law school graduates.  The law school’s faculty is a strong group of outstanding scholars and teachers with national and international reputations and currently ranks 30th nationally among U.S. law faculties in scholarly impact and 28th nationally in past-year faculty downloads on the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN). The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Founded in 1954, the law school is part of the University of San Diego, a private, independent, Roman Catholic university chartered in 1949.