S.C. lawmakers consider online protections for children
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - Some South Carolina lawmakers want to play a bigger role in determining what content children can access online.
They contend it’s in the name of keeping kids and teens safe on the internet and on apps, but others argue their push is unnecessary government overreach.
“This is obviously a very important issue, if not, in my opinion, one of the most important issues we’ll take up this year,” said Rep. Travis Moore, R-Spartanburg.
One bill advancing in the House of Representatives, the “South Carolina Social Media Regulation Act,” targets social media sites and apps.
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It would ban minors from having social media s without parental permission, prohibit adults from messaging minors on social media unless they are already connected, and expand s over minors’ social media s.
A House Judiciary subcommittee, chaired by Moore, advanced that bill to the full House Judiciary Committee last week.
The House ed a social media age verification bill last year, but it never advanced in the Senate.
A number of other states have introduced or ed restrictions on minors’ access to social media, a push that’s also been made at the federal level.
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A second bill under consideration at the State House this year, the “Children’s Default to Safety Act,” would take a more upstream approach, requiring smartphones and tablets sold for minors’ use automatically come with certain default settings and filters.
These would prevent them from ing and accessing apps and materials considered harmful to minors, particularly if they contain sexually explicit content and block them from uninstalling the filter without an adult’s permission.
It would also send an alert if a child tried to or access blocked content.
The bill’s lead sponsor, Rep. Brandon Guffey, R – York, compared it to other restrictions the government already enforces.
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“We believe that a state-mandated default filter overrides these existing solutions and reduces flexibility for families who have already taken steps to protect their children online,” Caleb Williamson, state public policy counsel for the tech trade association ACT, said.
Guffey argued it is more effective to target the limited number of phone manufacturers than the tens of thousands of social media apps out there and then assume parents know how to turn on those safety features.
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“Is it perfect? No. A parent could still buy a phone, down a phone from an adult, and there’s nothing we can do about that,” Guffey said. “But that’s the parent’s choice in making. But whenever you purchase a phone and you’re saying, this is for a child, it should have child-safety features on it.”
According to Guffey, Utah is the only other state with legislation similar to his default settings bill.
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