Under an amended bill passed by the House Ways and Means Committee on Monday, minors would need their parents’ permission to create accounts on TikTok, Instagram and other social media platforms.
The original version of House File 712 prohibited people under 18 from creating or using accounts on social media. The revised version of the bill would remove the ban, clarify that parents or guardians can approve access to these platforms, and be more specific about what websites are considered “social media.” giving a definition.
The changes came after representatives from companies such as Amazon and Microsoft asked lawmakers to amend the bill. The original language may not have allowed minors to obtain an Amazon account to purchase products or a LinkedIn account to search for jobs, they said.
U.S. Rep. John Wills (R-Spirit Lake) said he believes the amendment solves the problems businesses have expressed. The new language defines social media platforms as public applications that “enable users to communicate with other users for the primary purpose of posting information, comments, messages, or images.” In previous versions, users couldprovide informationMake information about yourself publicly available or available to other users and to enable communications between users.
Wills said this language ensures that applications like Google Classroom are not affected by the bill.
“We don’t want it to be an educational burden,” Wills said. “What we want to do is make sure kids are protected from online bullying and all the other issues that come with social media platforms.”
Opponents criticized the original bill for restricting parents’ rights by not giving them a choice in whether to allow their children to use social media. Wills said the bill would give parents that choice while also ensuring that parents are more involved in their children’s internet use than is currently required. Under current law, 14-year-olds can create a TikTok account without their parents’ knowledge.
Wills said the bill’s main concern is data collection. When parents decide to allow their children to use social media, they are giving permission for social media platforms to collect data about their children. Social media sites typically collect information such as a person’s name, email address, phone number, and photo. Some applications collect data about your interests and search for targeted advertising campaigns.
Former Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller joined the investigation into Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, in 2021. The prosecutor’s office is investigating whether Meta violated consumer protection laws and endangered the public when it used young people’s data to create algorithms to display content. Although this encourages minors to continue using the platform, it is associated with an increase in mental health problems among teenagers, especially girls.
“We don’t want to stop people from accessing social media platforms,” Wills said. “But what we want to do is make sure parents know they’re accessing these social media platforms.”
Iowa is not the only state considering legislation to restrict social media use by minors. Utah’s state legislature passed a bill in March that would require parental permission for minors to use social media, and other state legislatures, including Arkansas and Minnesota, are considering similar measures.
The Iowa bill advances to the full House.