OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — A bill banning social media for all Oklahoma children under the age of 16 has moved closer to becoming law.
The bill would require social media sites to verify the age of their users before allowing them access, but it still has a long road ahead.
For the second year in a row, state lawmakers will consider putting age limits on social media.
“I would love it if they would just do the right thing, and do the responsible things and fix it themselves,” said State Representative Chad Caldwell. “...This could be the stick approach where if you aren’t going to do that, we’re going to limit the damage you can do.”
House Bill 1275 by Enid Republican Chad Caldwell would prohibit anyone under the age of 16 from accessing social media without parental permission.
Anyone under 18 would have to give information for age verification. Third-party sites would be used to verify age.
The bill would also make it so social media companies would be liable for not verifying the age of their users.
Some state lawmakers feel that bullying and mental health issues are being made worse because of access to social media sites by kids and teens.
“I’m firmly convinced as a parent and someone who kind of grew up through the social media age, that if there was a pharmaceutical product that had the exact same side effect profile for minors as social media use, that product would be pulled off the market immediately,” said State Representative Rob Hall.
Rep. Caldwell tried to put age limits on social media last session, but like many bills, they died during a budget battle that lasted more than a month.
Also, between then and now there have been court cases providing a clearer path on how to regulate social media use by kids.
“Much like we’ve done with other addictive substances like tobacco and alcohol. Much like we’ve done with other areas like we’ve done with other areas like guarding access to pornography, gaming, tattoos, we’re guardrails on,” said Rep. Caldwell.
One Democrat voted against moving the bill forward saying there were free speech concerns and also concerns the verification data could be stolen by hackers.
Because of the new way bills are being heard in the state house, the bill will have changes made to it and will be reviewed before another committee before being eligible for a vote before the entire House of Representatives.