Texas is preparing to become the second country that enacted a hard ban on the social media of minors before its legislative session in the state ends a little more than a week.
The defenders on both sides of the case said that the draft law will be more organized in the state level so far on social media platforms if they are over. This comes at a time when other countries across the country are studying similar restrictions amid severe discussions on freedom of expression and whether these types of policies are the most effective way to achieve the primary goal of supporters: improving mental health of young people.
If a year, Texas bill It would put vast new restrictions that explicitly prevent every resident of Texas under the age of 18 years of registration and the use of a “social media platform”.
Legislation from all social media platforms will require checking the age of all people who prepare an account. This will allow parents to ask the platforms to delete the social media account for their children – and require companies to do this also within 10 days. Violations in the draft law are defined as “deceptive commercial practices”, which means that it will be punished for fines from the state prosecutor and are subject to financial lawsuits.
The Texas Council approved the bill and the Senate is expected to sit in the state. “Safety and privacy online for Texas children is still a priority” for Abbott and that “he will carefully review any legislation that is sent to his office that seeks to achieve these goals,” said Andrew Mahalis, a spokesman for the ruler’s ruler Greg Abbott, a Republican.
Such laws have faced great legal challenges by groups that compete that these restrictions reach freedom of expression violations. And even High -level supporters Social media restrictions tell minors that the ban for young people may not be the ideal political solution.
“Something should be done,” said Dr. Mitch Brenctein, head of the psychology strategy and integration of the American Psychology Association (APA). “These are things that we know are not suitable for the teenager – things like endless pass and” like charges. “
“But the embargo of life – it is like delaying the age of driving, but he has no driver,” Brenstein added. “Why only delay the age and then send children abroad to slaughter later?”
APA has repeatedly urged legislators to be more aggressive in trying to protect the mental health of adolescents, but they called for the policies designed more than the restrictions of age.
A variety of countries recently brought with social media bills. And all of them – including Texas – received the support of the two parties.
More importantly, the governor of Florida State Ron Desantis, a Republican, last year, has signed a draft law prohibiting children under the age of 14 years of joining social media platforms, becoming the first country that enacted such a ban. The law also requires that adolescents, who are 14 or 15 years old, have the approval of the parents before joining a platform.
Florida banned It was allowed to stand after a federal judge In March, he was sentenced to law -prohibition requests, though The legal battle against it Continues.
The law ignited a battle between the first amendment and civil freedoms calling for whether this ban is up to restrictions on freedom of expression.
“We see this as a first amendment issue, and since these bills have generally written, the first serious amendment problem, because it mainly cuts a full world of information, from the conversation from [young] “People” said.
Over the past two years, at least nine other states have enacted large restrictions on the use of social media, including the parents ’approval or age verification. On a wider scale, legislators of 27 states this year tried to enhance bills that somehow seek to process or regulate the use of the palace for social media, according to what he said. National Conference for Legislative Councils.
For example, the legislative body in Nebraska consent Last week’s bill requires parents ’approval for anyone under the age of 18 to open a social media account. Legitimates in the State Council in the state of Connecticut last week He tightly agreed to a draft law that requires the same thing.
The legislators in Minnesota discussed several measures this year, Including a tax on Companies that depend on their data on the state’s residents Suggested mental health stickers For social media platforms.
Last year, legislators in Georgia, Tennessee and Louisiana acknowledged draft laws that require parents’ approval of any person under the age of 16 to open a social media account.
Many of these proposals faced serious legal obstacles. Similar bills in previous years – including in cases such as Ohioand Arkanasa California – faced major legal challenges, as Federal judges struck them on the basis of freedom of expression violations.
In addition, it was banned touring social media in Utah, which banned the use of platforms for minors between 10:30 pm and 6:30 am in 2023 It has been limited and replaced With more lenient restrictions last year after the original law faced a barrage of lawsuits.
Netchical, a technical commercial group whose members are Meta, Google and X, which are strongly opposed to most of the social media regulations, participated in litigation In those three countries and many others The lawmakers issued legislation seeking to reduce the access of social media to minors. The group indicated that it is preparing to do this again with the Texas bill if it passed.
Chris Marshaz, director of litigation at Netchical, is called proposals such as proposals in Texas, “Control Systems are denied as online safety laws”
“Each project puts a law in an e -mail,” the first amendment rights of all Americans at risk, via the Internet and not connected. “
Social media companies have said that they made many changes to their platforms that help protect minors.
Since 2023, Meta (the parent company for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) It started to appear Teenagers notify when they spend 20 minutes on Facebook; Parent supervision tools that allow parents to schedule a break from adolescence from Facebook; She launched a new product focusing on Instagram that allows parents to help reduce the content that their children see on the platform; I started hiding more results in the Instagram search tool related to suicide, self -harm and eating disorders; The “bowl” that encourages adolescents launched the closing of the application when it is late.
Tiktok, over the past five years, has established a variety of age-restricting features for users under the age of 18, including direct and broader correspondence limits-in addition to the special account settings of details for users between the ages of 13 and 15. 2023 A daily screen limit for 60 minutes for users under the age of 18, and two years ago, restricted Night notifications for some teenagers. In addition, the platform provides parents of certain controls for the use of their children, Incurred Screen time management and the type of content they can see.
Meta and Tiktok spokesman refused to comment on bills that limit the use of social media platforms for youth. X spokesman did not answer the questions.
The broader issue also attracted the attention of legislators in Washington, DC, a group of two parties from the two parties, led by Brian Shatz, De Hawaii, foot Earlier this year, children have stopped children on social media, which would prevent social media platforms from allowing children under 13 years of age to create or preserve accounts. The draft law, which will also require social media companies to delete the current accounts of children 13 and below, He witnessed a little movement since its presentation in February.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the state’s legislative bodies, the Federal Laws turned their attention in recent months to the increasing movement to restrict the use of mobile phones by children and adolescents in schools.
Last month, he presented Sens. Tom Cotton, R-RK. , Tim Kaine, D-VA. A bill that would provide funding for educational areas to explore the status of these restrictions. This effort comes at a time when an increasing number of countries enacted laws or are considered bills for prohibiting mobile phones in schools.
