Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a bill requiring children under 16 to have their parents’ consent to create social media accounts.
Mr. Kemp signed the bill into law in a ceremony in Atlanta on April 23, saying that its primary aim is to counteract cyberbullying and address concerns around youth mental health.
“We cannot continue to sit by and do nothing as young Georgians develop addictions and disorders and suffer at the hands of online antagonists,” Gov. Kemp said. “I’m proud to sign this bill and put Georgians—children—first above all else.”
A series of bills have been making their way through state legislatures to the desks of governors, drafted to protect children from the many harms lurking on social media platforms. However, those efforts are simultaneously being challenged as being methods to curb free speech and freedom of expression.
Georgia is the latest state to enact such a law, which faced challenges before it was passed and signed into law.
The legislation requires the State Board of Education to develop “methods of promoting responsible digital citizenship and the safe and appropriate use of technology, the internet, and social media,” for students in grades six through 12. These methods must be implemented by local school boards in all grade levels by the 2025-2026 school year. School boards will also be required to provide parents with opportunities to be involved in establishing the anticipated outcomes of the program.
The Department of Education is also required to consider the student online safety programs already developed in other states, as well as suggested materials by education experts, child psychologists, and tech companies that promote online safety for children while developing its programs.
Such programs must include instruction on the social, emotional, and physical effects of social media on users, with a particular focus on how social media effects the mental health of teenagers. Students are to be taught about the distribution of disinformation and misinformation through social media and how social media can influence their thoughts and behaviors.
Students are also to be made aware of the permanence and risks involved in posting things online. Students are also to be taught how to recognize cyberbullying, online predators, and signs of human trafficking and how to report such activities to the proper authorities.
Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones said, “The health and safety of our children should always be a parent’s number one priority.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia issued a statement saying it opposes the legislation, saying the age-verification requirements leave Georgians vulnerable to “dangerous data privacy infringements.”
While the measure prohibits students from using social media apps during school and requires parental consent for them to have social media accounts, the ACLU argues that most age verification procedures require applicants to scan and upload government-issued documents such as a driver’s license or a passport.”This is highly sensitive information that should not be uploaded for websites or third party companies to access,” the ACLU statement says.
NetChoice—a tech lobbying group whose members include such media giants as TikTok, Meta, and Google—sent a letter to Gov. Kemp asking him to veto the bill.
NetChoice argues that the measure “presents serious privacy concerns” and violates their Constitutional rights.
Protection vs. Infringement
While proponents of such measures say the intent is to protect children, opponents say the moves come at the expense of restricting freedom of speech.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed two measures into law in June 2023.
One prohibits online services from allowing children under the age of 18 to create accounts without parental consent and provides parents the authority to cancel any existing terms-of-service contracts they discover that their children signed up for.
The other prohibits social media companies from allowing Louisiana minors under the age of 16 to hold or open an account on a social media platform without parental consent and mandates that they must provide parents with the means of supervising minors’ accounts. The law also prohibits adults from direct messaging minor account holders in the state unless they are related.
Fines of up to $2,500 can be levied for each violation of the law.
NetChoice urged committee members in an April 2023, letter to oppose the measures.
While describing the intent to protect minors from harmful content online as “laudable,” NetChoice suggests the “intrusive age verification requirements” would “compromise the ability to speak freely and anonymously online.”
“Furthermore, by restricting minors’ access to non-obscene, constitutionally-protected speech, the bill raises serious First Amendment concerns,” the group said.
Utah’s legislature passed two measures during the 2024 General Session, which Gov. Spencer J. Cox signed into law in March.
The first measure blocks harmful and addictive product features on social media, protects minors’ privacy, and aims to give parents the tools and resources they need to keep their children safe.
The second holds social media companies responsible for mental health problems they cause through the design of their platforms.
The new legislation replaces the Utah Social Media Regulation Act, signed into law in March 2023. That act required social media companies to verify that account holders are 18 or older and that those under the age of 18 have parental consent. It also prohibited social media companies from using features that cause addiction among minors.
The Utah Social Media Regulation Act was challenged in court by NetChoice, leading lawmakers to pass the revised legislation, which takes effect Oct. 1.
The lawsuit argued that the state was restricting free speech under the pretext of protecting children, saying, “It is an unconstitutional attempt to regulate both minors’ and adults’ access to—and ability to engage in—protected expression.
Utah sued Meta in November of last year and sued TikTok in January, “to stop the harms it causes to Utah’s children.”
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed similar legislation into law in April 2023.
However, the law was blocked by a federal judge following a lawsuit by NetChoice.
Judge Timothy Brooks of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas said in his August ruling that NetChoice would likely succeed in proving that the law is “unconstitutionally vague because it fails to adequately define which entities are subject to its requirements.”
In a March filing, however, the judge rejected NetChoice’s motion to continue directly to summary judgment in the case, saying that “the State should be afforded a full opportunity to defend the judgment of its legislature.”
Texas Gov. Gregg Abbot signed a bill into law in Jan. 2023, requiring social media platforms to verify the ages of all minors and to secure parental consent before allowing minors under the age of 18 to create an account.
Social media platforms must also restrict minors from accessing harmful content that “promotes, glorifies, or facilitates” such things as substance abuse, suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, bullying, harassment, stalking, grooming, trafficking, and child sexual abuse.
NetChoice urged Gov. Abbot to veto the measure, citing similar reasons.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a measure in March, which set the age limit for holding a social media account at 16.
However, he did sign a follow-up measure into law, which lowered the age limit to holding an account to under 14, while children aged 14 and 15 need parental consent before opening an account.
The law is already facing a legal challenge by NetChoice.
In a statement to The Epoch Times, NetChoice Senior Communications Manager Krista Chavez said that, if enacted, these bills will fail to achieve their goals because they put politicians—not parents—in charge of keeping children safe online. In addition, she reiterated their position that these laws violate the Constitutionally protected rights of Americans.
“That’s why we oppose them,” she wrote. “They create massive surveillance systems and security vulnerabilities for all users, regardless of age.”
‘A Serious Danger’
Keith Flaugh is the founder and CEO of the Florida Citizens Alliance and a strong supporter of the legislation.
“There’s no question that social media has become a serious danger for young children,” he told The Epoch Times.
Not only is social media addictive, he said, but suicide rates, bullying, and depression among young women have increased dramatically due to spending too much time on social media. He noted that many charter schools in Florida are prohibiting children from having cell phones in school at all.
“The new law also put some serious law enforcement capability for the attorney general to fight these companies and gave parents a cause of action if they choose.”
The biggest problem he sees regarding the new law is the challenge parents will have in reigning back children aged 14 and under from accessing the social media accounts they’re used to using to communicate with their friends.
“It’s going to create some chaos.”
“We’ve decided as a society to protect minors,” he said, noting that children under 16 are not allowed to drive a car and young people under 21 are not allowed to buy or consume alcohol.
Mr. Flaugh thinks it’s time to start protecting children from the potential harms they could fall prey to on social media as well.
A survey released by Pew Research in December 2023 showed that TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram are the most popular social media platforms among children.
While TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram require users to be at least 13 years old to have an account, a report published by the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan revealed that children as young as 7-9 years old were using social media apps.
A survey by the nonprofit research organization Common Sense Media, revealed that screen time for children aged eight to 12 increased about an hour a day between 2019 and 2021.
The U.S. Surgeon General warned in a May 23, 2023, report that teens who spend more than three hours a day on social media double their risk of depression and anxiety.
Social media is linked with increased depression, anxiety, and suicidal behavior among children, according to data compiled by Psychology Today.