HF5452 is awaiting committee assignment.
Essays
Essay
The Bill HF5452 is a process of regulating minors ages 15 and younger, preventing them from becoming account holders on social media platforms. Social media platforms do not include online service, website, or application, as the communication is not open for the public, only for the sender and recipients. Minors ages 15 and younger are prohibited from becoming account holders and if the owner of any accounts is a minor, the account will be terminated as well as deleting all personal information on the account. All legislators should vote yes on HF5452 because the Bill aims for consumer protection, regulating social media usage, and requiring anonymous age verification for minors ages 15 and younger.
Firstly, the internet and/or social media is a dangerous platform for minors. According to Mayo Clinic Staffs (2024), it stated “certain content related to risk-taking, and negative posts or interactions on social media, have been linked with self-harm and rarely, death.” There needs to be limitations on phone use of social media or games, as they are the reasons that minors lack sleep and are unmotivated to attend school or do anything productive. There’s also a need for limitations for minors on social media because there are many more negative factors when minors are social networking. Minors tend to be distracted from completing their priorities, sharing too much personal information, and/or believing certain ideals that aren’t realistics. Additionally, minors can take part in cyberbullying like spreading rumors, or the one who is being cyberbully. Teens being exposed to cyberbullying can increase the risk of their mental health; anxiety and depression. With these cases, minors ages 15 and younger need to have limitations on certain platforms and the amount of time spent on social media that can harm their mental health.
Secondly, minors being exposed to certain environments and websites that are dangerous for them, can lead to further mental health issues and/or cyberbullying. According to Karsondas (2024), it stated that “age verification laws have emerged in the US as a response to concerns about minors’ access to adult content online. Introducing age verification aims to protect children and create a safer online environment.” There is a need for age requirements to verify the appropriate age of the type of setting on the platform because some links to a website are not meant for kids to see or interact with. Minors interacting in illegal websites can lead to harmful insight of inappropriate settings for their brains. Teens can interact with online predators that may exploit or extort them. The use of age requirement, helps minors for safety measures and further keeping minors safe. This will prevent them from potentially being hacked and/or leaking personal information by downloading a certain app or clicking on a certain website. The need of age requirements is an essential, to keep minors age 15 and younger away from websites that can oppose them from being safe.
Lastly, some states recognise social media effects on minors' mental health as they have their own similar Bills relating to the issue of minors' interactions on the internet. According to Reader (2024), it stated “an increasing number of states are moving to require social media companies to create child-safe versions of their sites.” States like Utah and Arkansas passed laws for parental consent to access social media, while States like South Caroline and New York want Bills that would regulate the content to minors. Other states are mandating website design changes and even state governments are trying to improve and regulate privacy protections for minors on social media. Many states recognise the danger of social media and its effect on minors as they are taking actions to make social media a friendly platform and/or limit social media usage. This Bill should be taken action, just like other states are regulating and protecting minors from the harmful usage on the internet and social media.
The negative side of regulating minors' usage on social media, showing the extent of their responsibility on the internet. According to Reader (2024), there was opposing force that pointed out the downside of the child-safe law, it stated “they violate the First Amendment rights of both the kids and the firms.” The NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association oppose mandating design changes because it violates the First Amendment. For kids, the first amendment is violated because there is no freedom of speech due to age restriction. The firm is violated because they have to promote, show, or say something that may seem biased or one sided because of the higher up like the government. Others may also argue that teenagers are capable of identifying danger and being aware of harms, but teenagers can only recognise these bad factors to a certain extent. They may want privacy and independence to do the things they want, unsupervised and have a sense of freedom on certain social media platforms without adult supervision.
In conclusion, the Bill HF5452 regulates and sets limitations for minors ages of 15 and younger from harmful websites. As well as the process of protecting irresponsible and reckless actions of minors from leaking personal information and further preventing online predators from contacting and/or accessing minors information. This regulation is to give parents more power and control over minors, and help minors with their addiction on social media and encourages minors to make the most out of life. Despite many flaws of the Bill and having disagreement of moving forward, based on the strict regulations, this is for the better for ages 15 and younger's mindset, productivity, mental and physical health. To prevent and regulate minors of the ages 15 and younger usage on social media for the better of the future, all legislators should vote yes for the Bill HF5452.
References
Karsondas, A. (2024, April 9). US age verification laws for online platforms. Yoti. https://www.yoti.com/blog/us-age-verification-laws-for-online-platforms/
Mayo Clinic Staffs. (2024, January 18). Teens and social media use: What's the impact? Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/tween-and-teen-health/in-depth/teens-and-social-media-use/art-20474437#:~:text=Lead%20some%20teens%20to%20form,such%20as%20anxiety%20and%20depression.
Prothero, A. (2023, April 30). Lawmakers Want to Regulate Young Social Media Users. Will It Work? EducationWeek.
Reader, R. (2024, January 13). States get serious about limiting kids’ social media exposure. Politico. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/13/kids-online-states-social-media-00135390
State Legislatures News Staff. (2024, May 23). State of Play | Tackling Social Media Regulations for Children. National Conference of State Legislatures.