The moral panic over social media continues to roll on, with various state legislatures introducing measures that would restrict children and teenagers’ access to the platforms.
Legislation under consideration in Utah would go several steps further. According to an analysis from Utah State University’s Center for Growth and Opportunity, every Utah resident would be required to provide an age-verifying ID to social media sites before being allowed to log on:
*The two bills aren’t just age verification mandates for teens, they also mandate ID verification for everyone over 18.
*Since expired ID cards won’t count, the poor and the elderly will be hit the hardest. If it all works as the bill authors hope, social media companies will soon be in the possession of highly sensitive personal information.
*Approximately two out of three Americans do not wish to share their identification documents with social media platforms.
*The definition of social media addiction in the bills doesn’t match current psychiatric practice.
There’s a full discussion of the questions and concerns the bills under consideration raise at this link.
The bottom line on legislation like this, however, is it seeks to fix particular problems with broad – and here, bizarrely intrusive – state action. That’s akin to having a hammer and seeing every problem as a nail. (RELATED: Government Imposes Deeply Flawed Orwellian Policy While Ginning up Other Controversies)
But such are means lawmakers prefer to use when they are intent on fighting social hobgoblins instead of sticking to their constitutional knitting.
Here’s an idea: if parents don’t want their kids using social media, then it’s up to those parents – not the state – to enforce their decision.
They get their wish, and the rest of us are left alone. But of course, there are no votes, campaign contributions or even a good press release in doing that.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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The RINO element for sure
TWO OF THE WORST EXAMPLES OF REPUBLICANS ARE PAUL RINO RYAN AND MITTENS ROMMNEY. THEY COULD RUIN A PARTY.
Add McConnell.
Rinos embrace the democrats nonsense. Real Republicans don’t vote for the societal garbage democrats promote.
True.
So from the linked article about how Commie teachers are skirting around the “laws” that Utah passed, it appears that the “laws” have no teeth in them at all and were merely designed as window dressing to make it appear that the politicians were supporting the parents when that was not true at all. Maybe parents need to impress the politicians that the parents mean business and will unseat the pols who continue to play games instead of enforce the people’s will.