Congressional efforts to regulate the internet to shield minors from harm online is an old story, going back to the internet’s earliest days of popular use in the mid-1990s. After largely unsuccessful attempts, lawmakers are taking another whack at it.
And, as before, detractors worry the proposal, however well-intentioned, could sacrifice the privacy and free speech of internet users. The steep price of enacting online regulations for children may prove costly to users of all ages, they warn.At issue is a proposed law from a bipartisan group of senators that would keep children under 13 years of age from being on social media at all. The bill would further require parental permission for social media use by youths ages 13 through 17.
Opponents of the regulation say only parents are equipped to make online decisions for their children and that some teenagers find opportunities for supportive communities online that are unavailable to them in the real world. If Congress were to act at the federal level, these state laws may or may not be preempted. And both state and federal proposals face constitutional hurdles.
Practically speaking, the bill’s age verification also forces a big trade-off on privacy, a significant online policy concern at both the state and the national level. In the case of the proposed federal bill, social media companies would need to collect a great deal more personally identifiable information from their users and also store that information to verify their efforts in case of future legal action questioning their compliance with the restrictions against minors.
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