Tech Giants, ACLU Try to Block Arkansas’ Social Media Safety Act in Court

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Tech giants and the ACLU are working in court against Arkansas’ Act 689, the Social Media Safety Act of 2023.

The Social Media Safety Act is a good law by Sen. Tyler Dees (R – Siloam Springs) and Rep. Jon Eubanks (R – Paris).

It requires major social media companies to use age verification to ensure minors do not access social media platforms without parental consent.

The law contains protections for user privacy. A social media company that violated the law could be held liable.

Act 689 narrowly cleared the Arkansas Senate last spring, but received strong support in the Arkansas House of Representatives. Governor Sanders signed it into law following its passage.

On June 29 the trade association NetChoice filed a lawsuit in federal court in Arkansas on behalf of its members — which include tech giants such as Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram), Twitter, SnapChat, Pinterest, and TikTok.

The lawsuit alleges that Arkansas’ Social Media Safety Act is unconstitutional and should be struck down.

On July 14 the ACLU of Arkansas filed a proposed amicus brief supporting NetChoice’s lawsuit and opposing Act 689.

The ACLU’s amicus brief claims,

Requiring individuals to verify their ages before using social media will impose significant burdens on the exercise of First Amendment rights online. [The Social Media Safety Act] will rob people of anonymity, deter privacy- and  security-minded users, and block some individuals from accessing the largest social media platforms at all. Additionally, imposing a parental consent requirement on access for young people will impermissibly burden their rights to access information and express themselves online, stigmatize the use of social media, and run counter to the parental authority of parents who do not object to their kids using social media.

The truth is the Social Media Safety Act respects parental authority by prohibiting social media companies from registering children as users without parental consent. Age verification and parental consent requirements for social media companies simply do not violate the First Amendment.

News reports have highlighted time and again how social media giants serve teens a steady “diet of darkness” online.

Despite employing tens of thousands of content moderators, TikTok’s algorithm repeatedly has been shown to inundate teenagers with videos about eating disorders, body image, self-harm, and suicide.

In February the American Psychological Association’s Chief Science Officer told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that social media use heightens the risk of negative influences among adolescents, and that young people are accessing social media sites that promote eating disorders and other harmful behavior.

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has published an analysis determining that social media is a major cause of mental illness in girls.

And a recent CDC report found 16% of high school students were electronically bullied in 2021 through texting, Instagram, Facebook, or other social media platforms.

Social media companies are owned and operated by adults. Given how harmful social media content can be, the adults running these tech companies should not be able to let children use their platforms without parental consent. Arkansas’ Social Media Protection Act helps address this serious problem.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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TikTok Is Bad for Kids (Again)

Social Media,

TikTok is feeding teens a “diet of darkness.” Recently, a group of researchers created fictitious accounts of 13-year-olds and quickly found their feeds full with content about eating disorders, body image, self-harm, and even suicide. This is despite the fact that TikTok currently employs 40,000 content moderators and has default screen-time limits for teens.  

TikTok’s problems have long plagued all social media platforms. Most have made efforts to prohibit the promotion of socially contagious self-destructive behaviors, but none have been able to eliminate this content entirely. Their guidelines, bans, and moderators do nothing to restrict other destructive content, such as ideas about gender confusion and transition. 

Parents can’t rely on the goodwill of social media giants to protect their kids. They must be proactive in teaching them how to use tech wisely and, often, just say no to it. Most importantly, parents need to remind their kids who they are: people made in the image and likeness of God.

Copyright 2023 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

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Arkansas Senate Narrowly Passes Bill Requiring Parental Consent for Social Media Platforms

Legislation, , ,

On Wednesday the Arkansas Senate narrowly passed a bill that would help protect minors in Arkansas from accessing social media sites without parental consent.

S.B. 396, the Social Media Safety Act, by Sen. Tyler Dees (R – Siloam Springs) and Rep. Jon Eubanks (R – Paris) says that social media companies must use age verification to ensure minors do not access social media platforms without parental consent.

The bill contains protections for user privacy. A social media company that violated the law could be held liable.

More and more, the evidence shows that modern social media platforms simply are not a place for children — at least, not without parental supervision.

In February the American Psychological Association’s Chief Science Officer told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that social media use heightens the risk for negative influences among adolescents, and that young people are accessing social media sites that promote eating disorders and other harmful behavior.

In December, news outlets reported how social media giant TikTok’s algorithm was suggesting videos that promoted self-harm and eating disorders to teenagers.

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has published an analysis determining that social media is a major cause of mental illness in girls.

And a recent CDC report found 16% of high school students were electronically bullied in 2021 through texting, Instagram, Facebook, or other social media platforms.

Legislation like S.B. 396 would help parents and social media companies protect children from harmful content online.

The bill now goes to the entire Arkansas House of Representatives for consideration.

The Following Senators Voted For S.B. 396

  1. J. Boyd
  2. Caldwell
  3. A. Clark
  4. B. Davis
  5. Dees
  6. Gilmore
  7. K. Hammer
  8. B. Johnson
  9. M. Johnson
  10. M. McKee
  11. J. Payton
  12. C. Penzo
  13. J. Petty
  14. Rice
  15. Stone
  16. G. Stubblefield
  17. D. Sullivan
  18. D. Wallace

The Following Senator Voted Against S.B. 396

  1. S. Flowers

The Following Senators Voted “Present”

  1. J. Bryant
  2. L. Chesterfield
  3. Crowell
  4. J. Dismang
  5. J. Dotson
  6. Flippo
  7. Hill
  8. G. Leding
  9. F. Love
  10. R. Murdock
  11. C. Tucker

The Following Senators Did Not Vote

  1. J. English
  2. Hester
  3. Hickey
  4. Irvin
  5. B. King

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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