Our state will be stronger as we help our children navigate technology in a healthy way, with greater guidance from their parents.
Our state will be stronger as we help our children navigate technology in a healthy way, with greater guidance from their parents.
I f history has taught us anything, it’s that we are sometimes slow to respond to dangers that harm our children. Tobacco, opioids, even cocaine were once touted as “safe” and “effective.” Seat-belt laws were nonexistent for decades until we realized that lives would be saved if we wore them and that it’s a parent’s responsibility to ensure their child is buckled up.
Much the same goes for social media and its effect on our children today. The Millennials and Gen Zers of our world have been the guinea pigs for Big Tech experiments. Social-media companies have harnessed the power of addictive algorithms on our children, and as a consequence, we have seen youth mental issues — from anxiety to suicide — skyrocket since 2010 while too many political leaders have stood on the sidelines wringing their hands.
In Utah, we are done with hand-wringing. We are tired of waiting for someone else to stand up to address this problem. In our 2023 state legislative session, we took action to protect our children from Big Tech.
This past week, I signed a pair of social-media bills that will give parents the tools they need to keep their kids safe. Senate Bill 152, sponsored by Senator Mike McKell and Representative Jordan Teuscher, requires parental consent for social-media accounts for minors and gives parents access to those accounts. This bill also creates a default curfew setting, blocking overnight access (10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.), which can be adjusted by parents. It prohibits direct messaging by anyone whom the child hasn’t followed or friended and blocks underage accounts from search results. It prohibits companies from collecting data on minors or advertising to them.
Utah’s Division of Consumer Protection will enforce this law with a $2,500 fine per violation. Parents can also sue tech companies that break the law through a private right of action.
House Bill 311, sponsored by Representative Jordan Teuscher and Senator Kirk Cullimore, prohibits social-media companies from using addictive design features and would impose a $250,000 fine for each violation, plus a $2,500 penalty per child for those exposed to an addictive feature. The bill also makes it easier for parents to sue tech companies for financial, physical, or emotional harms caused by their child’s use of a social-media platform. For youth under 16, harm would be presumed under the law, and companies would have the burden to prove otherwise in court. These measures are designed to make tech companies do a much better job of policing their own platforms than they have done up to this point.
While I understand that some on the right think that these measures amount to undue government interference in the private sector and some on the left think they infringe on children’s ability to freely associate with whomever they wish online, I believe these pioneering laws advance the common good in Utah.
As governor of Utah, I see no greater charge than protecting the health and welfare of the children in my state and strengthening the Utah families that have made our state so great. Children and families are my top priority. We have seen the data. We now know social-media companies understand that their product is toxic for teens, and even our teens admit that social media is harming their mental health. They have told me so. Our state will be stronger when we help our children navigate technology in a healthy way, with greater guidance from their parents.