There has been a lot of talk about the harms of social media on youth.
During the 2024 legislative session, there were two bills passed related to social media that repealed and replaced last year's social media bills.
Governor Cox just signed these bills and they will go into effect on October 1, 2024.
The sponsor of the bills, Representative Jordan Teuscher from South Jordan District 44, joined us in studio to help us understand the two bills.
House Bill 464:
- Gives minors and their parents or legal guardians the ability to hold social media companies liable for the harm addictive algorithms have caused children through a private right of action. It creates a rebuttable presumption of harm. Allows social media companies to legally overcome the rebuttable assumption that their products cause harm if they:
- Obtain parental consent for a minor's use of the platform
- Remove features causing excessive use: autoplay, perpetual scrolling, and push notifications
- Display content chronologically
- Limit a minor's time on the platform - no more than three hours in a 24 hour period; and no access from 10:30 PM to 6:30 AM.
Senate Bill 194:
- Enacts a strict age verification process in order to create a safer experience for minors
- Requires default privacy settings for a minor account holder, which can only be overridden by a parent or guardian. It would block direct messages, sharing and visibility to minors without being "friends" on the platform.
- Disables search engine indexing and implements security measures.
- Disables features that lead to excessive use, including autoplay, perpetual scrolling and push notifications.
- Requires social media companies to offer parents or legal guardians tools to oversee minor accounts, including: setting time limits, scheduling mandatory breaks, viewing total and daily average use time, seeing connected accounts
- Prevents social media companies from collecting and selling data on minors without consent from a verifiable parent or legal guardian.
Rep. Teuscher says government cannot solve the issue alone, he says parents need to be courageous and get involved for their kids' sake.
Since the invention of social media, youth worldwide are feeling lonelier than ever.
But youth are resilient and can overcome mental health struggles with the right support, treatment and resources.
You can find those at socialharms.utah.gov.
