On Tuesday, April 15, the State House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development approved HB 301—Social Media Protections for Minors Under 16, which would implement a new law to protect children from the harms of social media. This bill is sponsored by State Reps. Jeff Zenger (R-Forsyth), Neal Jackson (R-Moore), Jonathan Almond (R-Cabarrus), and David Willis (R-Union). HB 301 will now move to the House Rules Committee.
How It Would Protect Children from Social Media
The bill has two primary functions. First, HB 301 would prohibit children younger than 14 years of age from entering into a contract with a social media platform to become an account holder. Furthermore, any current social media accounts held by minors under 14, as well as any personal data about the minor, would have to be deleted by the platform.
Secondly, social media platforms would have to obtain parental consent for any minor who is 14 or 15 years of age before allowing the minor to enter into a contract to become an account holder with the platform. Any current accounts held by 14 or 15 years olds would have to be deleted unless parental consent is provided to the platform.
The bill also requires social media platforms to utilize age verification technology to verify that an account holder is 16 years of age or older and to prevent creation of an account by someone younger than 16 without parental consent as mentioned above.
HB 301 contains a range of civil penalties and other remedies for violations of the law.
Why These Protections are Necessary
More than a decade of research has revealed that exposure to social media can be catastrophic for teens and young adults. The federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which was adopted in 1998, prohibits websites or online services from “collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from children” under 13 years of age. It is worth noting that this was well before the development of any of the modern social media platforms.
Based on the data, experts are now highly recommending that children avoid social media. In his New York Times Bestselling book, The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt lists increasing the minimum age for social media to 16 as one of his four key recommendations.
If enacted, the guidelines in HB 301 will offer helpful restrictions while still equipping parents with the freedom they need to make the best decisions for their children.