Sen. Josh Hawley Introduces Bill Banning Children Under 16 from Social Media
By Movieguide® Contributor
On Tuesday, Missouri senator Josh Hawley introduced legislation that seeks to prohibit children under the age of 16 from using social media platforms in his continued effort to protect children online.
The Making Age-Verification Technology Uniform, Robust, and Effective (MATURE) Act states, “the operator of a social media platform shall not allow an individual to create an account on the platform unless the individual is age 16 or older, as verified by the platform using an age verification process.”
“Children suffer every day from the effects of social media,” Hawley said. “At best, Big Tech companies are neglecting our children’s health and monetizing their personal information. At worst, they are complicit in their exploitation and manipulation. It’s time to give parents the weapons they need to strike back.”
He added, “That starts with an age restriction for social media. And it’s long past time for well-funded research on the scale of the problem. We must set the precedent that these companies can no longer take advantage of our children.”
The bill continues, explaining that the age-verification process would require an individual’s full legal name, date of birth and government-issued identification before someone can create an account.
Additionally, the bill would ban social media companies from selling, transferring or using “any information collected from an individual for the purpose of verifying the individual’s identity and age for any other purpose.”
If an account is deleted, the company would be required to delete any information collected for age verification.
The Christian Post reports that Hawley also introduced the Federal Social Media Research Act, which would study social media’s harmful effects on children.
Hawley has introduced legislation in the past to protect children from the dangers of social media. Movieguide® previously reported on his bill that would ban TikTok in the United States:
Senator Josh Hawley announced that he will introduce legislation that would ban TikTok in the United States due to the national security and mental health threats it poses to American citizens.
“TikTok is China’s backdoor into Americans’ lives. It threatens our children’s privacy as well as their mental health. Now I will introduce legislation to ban it nationwide,” the Missouri senator wrote in a January 24 tweet.
Movieguide® has previously reported on the devastating impact TikTok has had on children. Minors are frequently exposed to explicit content, drug usage and trends such as the deadly “blackout challenge” while using the app.
Hawley explained how his bill would prevent more children from being damaged by the content they see on TikTok.
“What my bill does is it specifically goes after TikTok—it bans it,” Hawley told Capitol Hill reporters.
“It doesn’t ban any other app, but it also requires a comprehensive report to Congress on the national security threat” the app poses and its relationship to the Chinese Communist Party, he added.
TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, has come under Hawley’s scrutiny in the past as he believes it poses a “major security risk” to the United States.
Just because an app or platform is illegal does not mean that it will be unavailable. It is critical that we teach our children and teenagers to practice media wisdom in their technology consumption. When children and teenagers are trained to choose the good and reject the bad, apps and platforms that promote illicit activity will not succeed.
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