TECHDIGEST– Utah’s Republican governor, Spencer Cox, recently signed two bills aimed at protecting children from the harmful effects of social media. These measures require platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to obtain parental consent for Utah residents under 18 to access their services.

The laws also prohibit features that could potentially cause addiction to social media platforms and restrict minors’ usage during certain overnight hours without parental consent. Violating companies could face a fine of $2,500 per individual account or violation.

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While some states have proposed similar measures, this is the first time such laws have been enacted. However, privacy advocates are concerned that extending special protections to certain online populations could lead to targeting and data privacy issues. Verifying someone’s age and location would require personal identification, which would then be attached to the user’s online profile. Tech companies gather behavioral data and inferential data but do not keep government-issued identification information.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Acting Activism Director, Jason Kelley, believes that laws like Utah’s require individuals to upload more sensitive data and raise concerns about data protection, data breaches, and data sharing. As such, Kelley prefers the status quo over regulations like Utah’s.

Although it is difficult to trust teenagers to behave responsibly online, it is also challenging to trust big tech companies to do so. Laws born out of a suspicion of tech companies may inadvertently grant them access to even more sensitive data.

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