Georgia Republicans considering legislation to mandate parental consent for children’s social media accounts

A duo of Georgia Republicans have announced a legislative push to require children to have their parents’ permission to use certain social media accounts.

In a news conference on Monday, Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R) and state Senate Majority Caucus Chair Senator Jason Anavitarte (R) said they plan to introduce the bill during the state’s 2024 legislative session. 

The proposed legislation would require social media platforms to take concrete steps to verify the age of their users. Existing rules requiring schools systems in the state to monitor bullying and educate students and educators on the issue of social media would also be updated “to reflect the realities of modern technology.” 

Social media companies will also be required to remove features that are addictive to children, according to the proposed legislation. 

Anavitarte also said that the legislation would be modeled on a law in Louisiana that was passed earlier this year. 

Louisiana’s state legislature passed a bill in June that bans “interactive computer services” from allowing people under 18 years old to sign up for accounts on the social media platform without their parents’ consent, according to The Verge. 

“We want to be sensitive to the First Amendment,” Anavitarie said, according to the Polk County Standard Journal. “(But) we’re making a stand here in Georgia. Something’s got to change.”

This comes as other GOP-led states such as Utah, Arkansas, and Texas have either passed or enacted laws earlier this year that required parental contest for children to use social media platforms. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed into law last year that requires social media services to do more to protect children that use their sites. 

Social media companies are already required under federal regulation to ban children under the age of 13 from creating accounts on their platforms, but children have found ways to evade those rules.

“Social media touches every part of our daily lives, and while it certainly has its benefits, the potential negative impacts it has on our children cannot be dismissed,” Jones said in a statement, noting that the legislation “will be a critical step toward age verification, removing addictive content, and cracking down on cyberbullying in the social media landscape.” 

— The Associated Press contributed to the report.