Bipartisan NC lawmakers advancing bill to ban social media for minors under 14
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- North Carolina lawmakers are advancing HB 301 to ban social media for children under 14.
- Bill would also require parental consent for 14 and 15 year olds to make accounts.
- The bill passed the House last year and is advancing in the Senate. ACLU opposes it.
North Carolina lawmakers are advancing a bill to ban social media for minors under the age of 14, saying the platforms are too dangerous for children to have unfettered access.
“Every day it seems like more and more we’re learning the psychological impact of young people being on social media,” Rep. Jeff Zenger, the bill’s sponsor, said at a press conference on Thursday.
Zenger, a Republican from Lewisville in Forsyth County, noted that studies have found the platforms can lead to depression, cyberbullying and self-esteem issues. “We want to try to curb that effect,” he said.
The bill, House Bill 301, already passed the House last year with near-unanimous support and is now advancing in the Senate. Last week, the Senate Education Committee gave the proposal unanimous approval and sent it to the Judiciary Committee.
In addition to banning social media for children under 14, the bill would require parental consent for children who are 14 or 15 and wish to create an account.
To facilitate the age restrictions, HB 301 would require social media companies to use age verification software to ensure users meet the requirements. Companies that violate the law could be fined between $5,000 and $50,000, depending on the violation.
“Very simply, it puts parents back in charge of their child’s online activity and not the large, billion dollar social media companies,” Rep. Neal Jackson, a Moore County Republican, said at Thursday’s press conference.
At last week’s committee hearing, Sen. Sophia Chitlik, a Durham Democrat, applauded “this effort to rein in what is extremely addictive technology and to free our young people from a dependence on social media, which is driving ... isolation, depression, self harm.”
“We have rare consensus that this is really urgent and essential,” Chitlik said.
Concerns raised over free speech rights
The American Civil Liberties Union has come out in opposition to the bill, contending it is an unconstitutional restriction on speech.
“Kids have significant First Amendment rights, so you can’t wholesale kick them off social media,” Liz Barber, a policy director with the ACLU of North Carolina, said. “Social media’s primary purpose is to allow users to speak, and to foreclose access to social media altogether is to prevent the user from engaging in the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights.”
When HB 301 came before the House last year, six Democrats voted against it.
One of them, Rep. Pricey Harrison of Guilford County, told The News & Observer that “Politically, it is a hard bill to vote against. But I cannot vote for bills that raise so many (or any) constitutional concerns.”
In addition to restrictions on social media, HB 301 would also require public schools to develop policies surrounding the safe usage of artificial intelligence.
Schools would also adopt instructional standards for AI literacy, including teaching students the limitations of AI tools and how to verify their outputs.
Jane Winik Sartwell contributed to this report.
