Georgia joins states seeking parental permission before children join social media

ATLANTA -- Georgia could join other states in requiring children younger 
than 16 to have their parents’ explicit permission to create social media 
accounts.

Lawmakers on Friday gave final approval to Senate Bill 351, which also 
would ban social media use on school devices and internet services, 
require porn sites to verify users are 18 or over and mandate additional 
education by schools on social media and internet use. The House passed 
the measure 120-45 and the Senate approved it 48-7.

The bill, which Republican Sen. Jason Anavitarte of Dallas called 
“transformative,” now goes to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature or veto.

A number of other states including Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas and Utah 
passed laws last year requiring parental consent for children to use 
social media. In Arkansas, a federal judge in August blocked enforcement 
of a law requiring parental consent for minors to create new social media 
accounts.

Some in Congress also are proposing parental consent for minors.

State Rep. Scott Hilton, a Peachtree Corners Republican, argued the state 
should do more to limit social media use by children, saying it's causing 
harm.

“Every rose has a thorn, and that’s social media in this generation," 
Hilton said. "It’s great for connectivity and activism, but it has reared 
its ugly head on mental health.”

But opponents warned the bill would cause problems. For example, Rep. 
David Wilkerson, a Powder Springs Democrat, said that the ban on use of 
social media in schools could ban teachers from showing educationally 
valuable YouTube videos.

“If we do pass this, we’ll be back fixing this next year, because there 
are too many issues with this bill," Wilkerson said.

The bill says social media services would have to use “commercially 
reasonable efforts” to verify someone's age by July 1, 2025.

Services would have to treat anyone who can't be verified as a minor. 
Parents of children younger than 16 would have to consent to their 
children joining a service. Social medial companies would be limited in 
how they could customize ads for children younger than 16 and how much 
information they could collect on those children.

To comply with federal regulation, social media companies already ban kids 
under 13 from signing up to their platforms, but children have been shown 
to easily evade the bans.

Up to 95% of teens aged 13 to 17 report using a social media platform, 
with more than a third saying they use them “almost constantly,” the Pew 
Research Center found.

The Georgia bill also aims to shut down porn sites by requiring submission 
of a digitized identification card or some other government-issued 
identification. Companies could be held liable if minors were found to 
access the sites, and could face fines of up to $10,000.

“It will protect our children," said Rep. Rick Jasperse, a Jasper 
Republican who argues age verification will lead porn sites to cut off 
access to Georgians. In March, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 
upheld a Texas law, leading Pornhub to cut off access to Texans.

The Free Speech Coalition, which represents adult film makers, says the 
bill would be ineffective because users could mask their location and 
because people would be forced to transmit sensitive information. They 
also argue it's unconstitutional because there are less restrictive ways 
to keep children out and discriminate against certain types of speech. The 
coalition has sued multiple states over the laws.

The ban on school social media excludes email, news, gaming, online 
shopping, photograph editing and academic sites. The measure also requires 
a model program on the effects of social media and for students in grades 
6-12, and requires existing anti-bullying programs to be updated.

The move comes after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned in May that 
social media hasn’t been proven to be safe for young people.

Murthy called on tech companies, parents and caregivers to take “immediate 
action to protect kids now" and asked tech companies to share data and 
increase transparency and for policymakers to regulate social media for 
safety the way they do car seats and baby formula.

Meta, the parent of Facebook and Instragram, announced in 2022 it was 
taking steps to verify ages. Meta says it provides “age-appropriate 
experiences” for teens 13-17 on Instagram, including preventing unwanted 
contact from unknown adults.

Dozens of U.S. states, including California and New York, also are suing 
Meta Platforms Inc., claiming the company harms young people and 
contributes to a youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately 
designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its 
platforms.

Florida recently passed a law banning social media accounts for children 
under 14 regardless of parental consent and require parental permission 
for 14- and 15-year-olds.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/georgia-joins-states-seeking-parental-
permission-children-join-108642730