Monitoring and education, not bans: researcher tells committee his archive shows platforms send harmful personalized content to kids
June 30, 2026 | Joint Interim Committees, Alabama Legislative Sessions, Alabama
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Dr. E (Dr. Epstein) told the Joint Interim Committees that his research group has built a nationwide monitoring system to capture personalized, ephemeral content (search answers, home-page prompts, recommended videos) as it is presented on individual devices, and that the preserved archive now numbers in the hundreds of millions of instances.
"We have preserved past 134 million" exposures, Dr. E said, and he showed examples he described as violent or sexualized content recommended to children on platforms such as YouTube Kids. He said ephemeral content is attractive to platforms because it leaves little or no paper trail and therefore cannot be audited without active monitoring.
Dr. E described one intervention his team reported: on Oct. 31, 2024, his monitoring detected what he characterized as a partisan imbalance in "go vote" reminders on a major search homepage (50% more reminders to one party); publicizing the finding, he said, prompted the platform to equalize reminders the following day.
He cautioned against simple age bans. He argued that the Australian experience of prohibiting under-16 social-media use did not reduce adverse outcomes and instead pushed young people to secret use; he urged that an education-first response would be more effective. His recommended package for Alabama included two near-term elements: (1) an anonymous, secure monitoring capability to record personalized ephemeral content for oversight purposes; and (2) a digital-hygiene curriculum and short diagnostic tests to teach 11 competencies for safe technology use.
On costs and implementation Dr. E said his system requires dedicated infrastructure and strong operational security; he said his team currently has substantial coverage in Alabama and could share materials if the committee funds or authorizes a pilot. Committee members asked for methodology, documentation and potential conflicts of interest; Dr. E said the group uses volunteer participants with parental consent for minors and preserves no identifying content when archiving exposures.
No formal action was taken; committee members requested supporting citations and follow-up briefings to determine feasibility and budget implications.
Provenance: testimony and examples presented by Dr. E and subsequent committee Q&A (Dr. E: SEG 1907'SEG 2130; examples and monitoring claims: SEG 2026'SEG 2130; intervention on vote reminders: SEG 3076'SEG 3116).
"We have preserved past 134 million" exposures, Dr. E said, and he showed examples he described as violent or sexualized content recommended to children on platforms such as YouTube Kids. He said ephemeral content is attractive to platforms because it leaves little or no paper trail and therefore cannot be audited without active monitoring.
Dr. E described one intervention his team reported: on Oct. 31, 2024, his monitoring detected what he characterized as a partisan imbalance in "go vote" reminders on a major search homepage (50% more reminders to one party); publicizing the finding, he said, prompted the platform to equalize reminders the following day.
He cautioned against simple age bans. He argued that the Australian experience of prohibiting under-16 social-media use did not reduce adverse outcomes and instead pushed young people to secret use; he urged that an education-first response would be more effective. His recommended package for Alabama included two near-term elements: (1) an anonymous, secure monitoring capability to record personalized ephemeral content for oversight purposes; and (2) a digital-hygiene curriculum and short diagnostic tests to teach 11 competencies for safe technology use.
On costs and implementation Dr. E said his system requires dedicated infrastructure and strong operational security; he said his team currently has substantial coverage in Alabama and could share materials if the committee funds or authorizes a pilot. Committee members asked for methodology, documentation and potential conflicts of interest; Dr. E said the group uses volunteer participants with parental consent for minors and preserves no identifying content when archiving exposures.
No formal action was taken; committee members requested supporting citations and follow-up briefings to determine feasibility and budget implications.
Provenance: testimony and examples presented by Dr. E and subsequent committee Q&A (Dr. E: SEG 1907'SEG 2130; examples and monitoring claims: SEG 2026'SEG 2130; intervention on vote reminders: SEG 3076'SEG 3116).
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