Utah’s governor signed into law two bills this week that regulate social media use for children and minors and put more power into the hands of their parents and caregivers.
On Thursday, Governor Spencer Cox signed H.B. 311 and S.B. 152 which requires parental consent for minors to create profiles on social media sites and gives parents access to their child’s accounts.
Governor Spencer Cox said on Twitter Thursday afternoon that they’re no longer willing to let social media companies continue to harm the mental health of their youth.
H.B. 311 goes one step further when it comes to social media regulation, prohibiting companies from using addictive features or designs and enforcing curfews.
The new laws come as TikTok’s CEO testified before US Congress about the app and as at least four other states consider similar legislation concerning online platforms.
In a tweet Thursday, Cox said it was his responsibility as a parent and lawmaker to protect the children of the state from toxic social media platforms.
The Republican governor stated that youth rates of depression and other mental health issues were on the rise because of social media companies.
He continued in a tweet with a video of him talking about the new laws, saying that as leaders, and parents, they have a responsibility to protect their young people.
The new laws prohibit social media companies from displaying ads, showing accounts held by minors in search results, and gathering data on children.
The apps will also be unable to suggest or target content and ads to children.
One of the most notable features is the curfew which automatically locks children out of their accounts at 10.30 pm and doesn’t allow them back in until 6.30 am.
The locks are triggered by the location of a user’s phone and the feature can be changed with parental permission. Platforms like Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook now have until March 1, 2024, to comply, and if they don’t adhere to the new law, they may be punished in civil or criminal court.
While speaking with NBC News, one of the co-sponsors of one of the bills said he hopes to see the trend spread across the states as a way to address what some health officials have deemed a mental health crisis, and Utah state Senator Michael McKell said that he didn’t think they’ve seen a time in American history where mental health had been so problematic.
Of course, in this day and age where the streets of the US can be extremely dangerous, a child needs some form of communication to contact someone if they were in trouble. Back in the day, it was a pager or a walkie-talkie, and of course, there were no social media. Just a cell phone that was very basic, calls and text messages to friends and family, and children survived just fine. A child with a cell phone and social media is not a good idea, so they’re doing the right thing – 100 per cent!
Numerous manufacturers brand some excellent dumbphones, although the coverage on them isn’t especially great, so they might think about upgrading for better cell phone coverage because as a parent, it would be nice to know where your children are and how they’re doing. After all, imagine having no way to contact your child during a school shooting or something similar.
Children should not be left alone on social media full stop because everything on there is manipulated just perfectly. Children are at risk and it’s all danger, danger, danger. In fact, social media sites should be shut down for good because they’re more trouble than they’re worth.
Back in the day we just had good old MSN chat, AOL chat and Yahoo chat, and even those needed to be monitored to a point. Bring these back and shut down Facebook, Twitter and all the other social media sites that now exist.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 