Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of Washington Secrets. Today, we hear from Rep. Erin Houchin about why it is so hard to protect children when they are online (spoiler alert: it’s Big Tech billionaires). And there’s good news (sort of) for Donald Trump: Voters don’t care much about the changes he is making to the White House.
No one is who they seem online. Adults pose as children. Kids pose as adults. Children are bullied by other kids, and creeps offer advice to vulnerable teens on suicide.
So why is it so hard to protect children by barring under-16s from using social media?
Just ask Rep. Erin Houchin (R-IN). She will tell you how her amendment banning social media for minors failed to make it into an online safety package being considered by Congress and how a similar bill fail to make it through the markup process.
“It’s been a very eye-opening experience as a parent, but also as a policymaker, to see that I can’t get the bill in a markup that seems a pretty easy lift,” she told a small group of reporters over coffee and chocolate croissants at Butterworth’s restaurant on Capitol Hill.
Things may be moving her way.
Last December, Australia became the first nation to ban social media for children under 18, blocking access to platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. It is being watched closely by other countries where pressure is mounting for tighter safeguards.
GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST HARMS OF SOCIAL MEDIA SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON US INACTION
Houchin said under-16s are at an age where they are particularly vulnerable to peer pressure, eating disorders, and the risk of suicide. She described how she felt powerless as a parent to protect her daughter.
“She got access to Instagram and was staying up all night on her phone,” said Houchin, who is a member of Republican House leadership. “She hacked around our parental controls, messaging who she thought were 13 and 14-year-old boys and girls all over the world. And when we discovered it, we contacted the platform, and they said: ‘Pound sand. She’s 13.’”
Access is currently governed by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which sets the age threshold at 13. The law was written in 1998, when TikTok was not even a gleam in the eye of a Chinese developer and Facebook cofounder Mark Zuckerberg had been an “adult” for just a year (according to its criteria).
But moving the age upwards runs into resistance from both the Left and the Right, said Houchin.
For some young adults, social media might be the only place where they can find advice on LGBT issues without their parents finding out.
On the Right, there are complaints that it is the job of parents, not the state, to look after children. And then there are free speech questions. Both arguments are amplified by Big Tech, which can spend hundreds of millions of dollars on lobbying efforts.
Some of the biggest money has been spent in Europe, where tech giants worry that progressive politics could cause ripples felt on this side of the Atlantic.
A report by watchdogs put the spending last year at about $180 million, funding 890 full-time tech lobbyists in Brussels, where the European Parliament is based.
Federal lobbying in the United States ran to more than $100 million last year, although that includes the whole gamut of issues, including AI as well as social media protections. And that’s without even considering state capitals.
There is good news and bad news when it comes to allies in the Trump administration.
This week, the U.S. government formally criticized plans for an Australian-style age ban in Britain, arguing that parents should take responsibility for their children’s time online and that state interference would be an attack on free speech.
“The best answer to challenges posed by technology is almost always better technology, not broad bans or blunt regulatory instruments,” it said in response to a consultation exercise held by the British government.
On the other hand, does Houchin have an ally in the second lady? Secrets can reveal that Usha Vance recently read The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Our Kids’ Learning — And How To Help Them Thrive Again by Jared Cooney Harvath. Its thesis is that children are being harmed by sitting in front of computer screens.
More importantly, Harvath recently appeared before a Senate committee where he made the case for banning children under 18 from using social media. That’s a way more aggressive stance than Houchin’s.
In the meantime, Houchin said she would leave no stone unturned or podcast spurned in order to spread the word.
“I think parents everywhere, no matter their party, are going to be like, oh my goodness, I cannot believe this is what’s happening, but it’s absolutely true,” she said.
Why is Trump’s approval rating so low?
Earlier this week, we brought you data and analysis from J.L. Partners on the “mid-propensity voters” who could yet help Republicans avoid the worst forecasts for a midterm wipeout. The data were presented by James Johnson at an exclusive gathering for clients and strategists.
Among the slides, there were also explanations for Trump’s low approval ratings.
Johnson’s firm has been tracking factors cited by voters who disapprove of the president. The latest data came in on May 18, and the numbers show the change from a month earlier.
No surprises that economic concerns top the table. The rest of the chart makes interesting reading, and breaks down into two halves, with eight factors being mentioned by more than 20%, while the rest come in among a much smaller proportion. So things like White House renovations don’t factor in much at all, nor do Russia and Ukraine. Both are stories that get major media attention, but it seems like they don’t much trouble voters.
Respondents who disapprove of Trump:
- Cost of living & inflation (57%, +12)
- His manner and approach to governing (40%, +3)
- Actions of ICE/immigration enforcement (39%, -0)
- Trade policy & tariffs (31%, +10)
- His approach to the Middle East (23%, -6)
- Handling of the Epstein files (21%, -6)
- Cuts to Medicaid (19%, -2)
- Economic growth & job creation (19%, +4)
- His approach to Russia/Ukraine (8%, -5)
- Handling of the government shutdown (8%, -6)
- Renovations to the White House (7%, -0)
- Tax policies (6%, +0)
- Military action in Venezuela (5%, -3)
- Crime & public safety (5%, +0)
- Nomination of Supreme Court justices (3%, +0)
- Second Amendment & gun rights (3%, +0)
- Education policy (2%, -1)
Lunchtime reading
Inside the White House freakout over the Epstein files: Great detail on last year’s crisis meeting. More problems for Vice President JD Vance, who apparently floated the idea of Tucker Carlson interviewing Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
Does Trump care about the 2026 midterms? They care about him: The president has made clear that Republicans are on their own when it comes to November’s elections. But they hold huge consequences for him.
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