What are your thoughts on Utah becoming the first state to ban social media for children under 18?

[AnusNdaPainus]

“The winds of change are blowing”

[abc3643]

First, let's do our due diligence and find the law itself so we all can read it directly from the State of Utah.

It's here:
https://le.utah.gov/~2023/bills/static/SB0152.html

Bills have a lot of mundane bullshit in them, so let's get to the gist of it which the bill summarizes up top:

7 LONG TITLE
8 General Description:
9 This bill enacts provisions related to the regulation of social media companies and
10 social media platforms.
11 Highlighted Provisions:
12 This bill:
13 ▸ defines terms;
14 ▸ enacts the Utah Social Media Regulation Act;
15 ▸ requires a social media company to verify the age of a Utah resident seeking to
16 maintain or open a social media account;
17 ▸ requires a social media company to obtain the consent of a parent or guardian before
18 a Utah resident under the age of 18 may maintain or open an account;
19 ▸ prohibits a social media company from permitting a Utah resident to open an
20 account if that person does not meet age requirements under state or federal law;
21 ▸ requires that for accounts held by a Utah minor, certain social media companies:
22 • shall prohibit direct messaging with certain accounts;
23 • may not show the minor's account in search results;
24 • may not display advertising;
25 • may not collect, share, or use personal information from the account, with
26 certain exceptions;
27 • may not target or suggest ads, accounts, or content; and
28 • shall limit hours of access, subject to parental or guardian direction;
29 ▸ requires a social media company to provide a parent or guardian access to the
30 content and interactions of an account held by a Utah resident under the age of 18;
31 ▸ directs the Division of Consumer Protection to receive and investigate complaints
32 of violations of the requirements established under the act and impose
33 administrative fines for violations;
34 ▸ authorizes the division to seek enforcement through an injunction, civil penalties,
35 and other relief through the judicial process;
36 ▸ requires fines and civil penalties to be deposited into the Consumer Protection
37 Education and Training Fund;
38 ▸ requires an annual report from the division;
39 ▸ authorizes a private right of action to collect attorney fees and damages from a
40 social media company for harm incurred in relation to a violation of the
41 requirements established by the act;
42 ▸ prohibits certain waivers; and
43 ▸ provides a severability clause.

============================================

I think it's fabulous.

[razelove]

It's just virtue signaling, Louisiana has a law banning access to porn in the state unless you scan your drivers license. Call me crazy, but I don't trust pornhub with my drivers license, so I just deal with higher ping through my vpn.

There will be a lot of adults in Utah doing the same thing there because they don't trust twitter, facebook, whoever with their social security number or whatever, much less teens. There are many easy and free ways to get around that, they just want to "express their tough and firm stance!".

[SomeRandomGuy89]

You really should stop watching porn.

[Tamera952]

I didn’t know that about Louisiana!! Omg!! That’s retarded!

[Tamera952]

@SomeRandomGuy89 fuck no, why? More porn the better

[SomeRandomGuy89]

@Tamera952 because as a guy, you're subduing your drive to pursue sex with women in preference of watching other people have sex; fake sex no less. It re-wires your brain and lessens your pleasure from real sex while destroying your dopamine levels.

Porn is horrible and more is actually worse; not better.

[Tamera952]

@SomeRandomGuy89 huh? What kind of half-baked nonsense is that? Did you pick that crap up at a men’s retreat at some mega retard church? Gimme a break. “Fake sex” subduing your drive to pursue real sex? WTF! It doesn’t rewire you brain, nor does it destroy dopamine. People can become dependent on, I will give you that.

True, It is problematic for some people, & can create unrealistic expectations for inexperienced guys, but males especially are hard wired to be visually stimulated, period hands down. So guys are naturally biologically programmed to dig it! To the average joe, porn is a god send! It can enhance & serve as a sexual catalyst or mood enhancement. It is not ‘horrible’ …. it is also fun, inspiring, exciting, arousing, & very popular…. I think it serves a purpose, & can be great! Also it can bring people together & can be shared by couples to enhance their sex play. It’s not all bad!

[SomeRandomGuy89]

@Tamera952 Half-baked nonsense at a men's retreat? If that's what you call a behavioural sciences convention hosted by the worlds leading physiologists and neurologists, then yes.

Porn does in fact rewire the dopaminergic systems that govern drive and motivation and has a profound impact on a scale that is negatively impacting millions of people.

You're a victim of your own vices.

[AnusNdaPainus]

@SomeRandomGuy89 social media is porn for women

[Alessa13]

Time will tell, as it will probably be one of those "are you over 18" buttons someone can click on.

Which is fine by me actually, I totally support that for age verification. Now if later on something happens and it is found out someone under 18 lied when they clicked it, then they should be charged with a crime. Something like committing fraud to get online to social media.

I am all for parents having more control but so many don't want to do it. Social media can already be banned if parents want to block specific addresses in their router, such as porn sites or social media. They can already set internet to shut off at specific times for specific devices in their household

Usually when something like this happens, what I hear is how the government needs to step in, not parents cause parents don't have the know how or the time.

Like when LA started requiring ID to access porn, what a joke. I wonder if they will do the same thing or simply just trust that whoever clicks the button is really 18 or up.

It isn't like someone can't just make an account and say they are 18, tons of people here on GAG have incorrect birthdates in their accounts.

Oh and then VPN, guess what... not showing up in Utah anymore.

Personaly I'm not a fan of social media, I think that is where mass shooters get created, online bullying does major mental damage to some people and then they grow up messed up.

I'm also for parents being more proactive.

It will be 5 to 10 years though I think before we see any real results from this.

[FeelingGroovy]

I feel your pain when it comes to asking questions on this site. My question was elevated to great, then removed for being spam, and now it's back to being great.

You should have asked it this way (although that still wouldn't work)

"If, magically, social media could be banned for kids under 18, would you be for it?'

It would still be a shit show, but you might get one or two people to understand your question.

All I'm reading from the replies is about not being able to enforce it.

If it could happen, it would be nice for kids not being able to access social media.

[AnusNdaPainus]

Well it can happen

[AnusNdaPainus]

@slatyb yes I can though ever heard of Nitro Zeus or an EMP it’s the exact same thing on a much smaller scale

[OfMiceandMen]

I mean most parents are totally oblivious to their kids on-line, anyway. But I can see a lot of kids where consent is given making some extra cash on the side cash from kids who do not receive parental consent.

There will be a whole underground network of social media accounts in Utah.

Instead of drugs it'll be:

Hey Billy, you got the goods?

Sure do, slips Bobby a sheet of paper with an pre-authorized social media account, and Bobby slips Billy a $20.

At that point you look at the politicians, the lawmakers, the parents who requested the ban and say... well wasn't that just an exercise in futility shitshow?

[TenderFantasy]

That's going to be HARD, if not impossible to implement. Children will ALWAYS be curious and sneaky. I don't think they remember being a child or teen (even if under 18) lol. If they can get it illegally (hell I've seen underage drinking and underage porn, etc. in the past, what's to stop them from this stuff? ? !).

If they can pull it off, then maybe. I'd be for it, but I'd be very curious to see how they'd do it! Social Media, at least to me, isn't that bad. It's the PARENTS and SOCIETY as a whole (people's morals) that need more reform than Social Media. Just turn it off or don't have a computer or something.

I think it will be a disaster considering teenagers are at an age where they start to REALLY care how their peers see them and even what people of the opposite sex view them too.

[TenderFantasy]

I don't think the policy makers remember being a teen I mean.

[ObscuredBeyond]

My teen years came and went before most social media even existed. I spent most of my high school life at home, isolated from society, miserable, unless I could go to school. My family didn't believe in my social cultivation. But then my folks wondered why I was awkward when the time to socialize came.

By the time Facebook came to exist, it confirmed what I'd already come to suspect about most of the world: civilization sucks now. A good lot of them aren't even worth knowing anyway.

Intemem how desperate I once was to find a date, to prove myself. But then society got sicker and sicker, and it destroyed women in general. Now, it's usually like: "Never mind. I want off this planet."

Civilization has committed suicide. Social media laws won't change that.

[ObscuredBeyond]

*I remember how

[AnusNdaPainus]

It won’t be hard at all with proper software

[TenderFantasy]

@ObscuredBeyond "My teen years came and went before most social media even existed." How is that possible, we are the same age. I remember being only 19/20 years old when MySpace, Facebook started getting popular.

@AnusNdaPainus Like I said, teenagers be sneaky and find ways to see/do what they want. Even going to friend's houses or out of state relatives or even jerry rigging something, if desparate enough. And they could always LIE about their age. So easy.

[ObscuredBeyond]

I entered high school in 1998. I left it in 2002. I didn't join Facebook until way late in 2006. I got a MySpace only a month before then. There was the "GIF Theory" going on then, about how online anonymity made otherwise reasonable joes act like complete raging douchebags. But I went to Ferris; and witnessed that most of the worst offenders were already utter tools in real life.

My internship ended in 2010, and I witnessed society in Michigan alone go from "yeah, okay," to total Tide zombie / NPC / woke hysteria in the course of a single year!

I didn't even have e-mail until 2002. In 1998, the family moved to a farmhouse 17 miles away from the town my high school was in. I spent the summers with no one but family to talk to. Often searching for jobs in vain. My high school was a tiny independent Lutheran high school with only 30-or-so students in it total. About 8 were my grade group total, often with only two of them at any given point being girls. Boys outnumbered girls 7:1 on enrollment there.

When I got to community college, the girls didn't give a damn about dating or socializing. They just wanted to get their associates and get out of there. After a while, I was the same way.

University life was a little different. But with all the freakazoid feminists willing to call literally everything rape, the fruits that wanted to proselytize everything in sight into becoming gay, the drunk bastards, the anime freaks, and the helicopter staff that would jump me for no reason, I found it usually advantageous to hide in my room rather than hang out with anyone.

On Facebook, I met some decent friend material. But most of them lived in other states.

[AnusNdaPainus]

So you’re saying teenagers who can't eat gluten or do a full days work

Have access to more advanced technology than elected officials? Ma’am we have sentient robots and are cloning animals

So YES! So easy

[AnusNdaPainus]

It’s not nap time WAKE UP

[TenderFantasy]

@ObscuredBeyond “I entered high school in 1998. I left it in 2002”
I entered high school in ’99, left ’03. I would have been in the same class as you if I didn’t repeat the first grade.

“I didn't join Facebook until way late in 2006”

I didn’t join Facebook till 2009.

“I got a MySpace only a month before then.”

MySpace has been around since 2002 I believe. And if you’re the same age as me, I think 19 is still technically a teen hehe.

Also, I was a member of Asian Avenue (created in 1997 according to Wikipedia) in 1999 when I was 15. My cousin introduced me to it. I loved it because I was able to put Janet Jackson music as background music on my own webpage/profile.

“I didn't even have e-mail until 2002”

I started writing e-mails when I was 17 using Yahoo Mail and AIM. I think I remember even Web TV enabled you to do something similar. Yahoo Mail and AIM’s been around since 2001 or even way before. I got a new computer in 2001. It had Windows ME lol.

[TenderFantasy]

@AnusNdaPainus What the hell are you talking about troll lol. You just dont' want me to be right lol. If people now can LIE about so many things, what's age? ! Maybe you're the one that needs to wake up. I don't think technologys advanced THAT far that a computer can even physically STOP someone underage. There will always be people, underage or not, breaking the law/rules. Maybe you're the one that's dreaming and too idealistic. So the police is going to go to that underage teen's house and physically PREVENT them from making fake profiles? ! Hmm ok!

[AnusNdaPainus]

Well based off the condescending malice in the tone of your words and this salty rebuttal as a whole

You know exactly what I’m talking about

[ObscuredBeyond]

My family didn't even switch to cable internet until 2009. They were still using dial-up in 2008. That's why I dreaded going home from college: I couldn't do jack at that farm house!

[NaultD]

Porn sites also require visitors to be 18 and older by clicking the green button. Ask yourself when you looked up porn on the internet the little southpark fan that you are. Remember the movie it was bigger, longer and uncut. or this episode

https://www.youtube.com/embed/HHQaejrW0JY

[AnusNdaPainus]

🤣🤣🤣 I don’t know what you mean clearly there was a spooky ghost

[Soteris]

Pointless. First of all, can't be enforced. Secondly, I do so love when the "land of the free" continues to strip freedoms from people. Lastly, this warms my heart. As the Republicans becomes ever more frustrated with young people not supporting them politically it is encouraging that their kneejerk reaction to this is to attack them directly and to try prevent them from standing up to the GOP.

Since GOP finds young people using social media as a threat, that becomes the first thing that they try to stop them from doing. Along with reading books of course, but that is about as age old as the GOP itself. It is a sign of the GOP losing control and they are throwing the equivalent of a legal tantrum over it. Funny as hell to watch and their tears lubricates the wheels of progressives. This is going to backfire, hard.

[AnusNdaPainus]

It most certainly can be enforced
And it actually is constitutional because the decision is ultimately up to the parent

This is good though because social media plays a big role in our current mental health crisis

[Soteris]

How would you enforce it? Also I dont particularly care what freedoms being taken away is somehow "constitutional" in your opinion when I dont even consider your constitution that great in the first place.

[AnusNdaPainus]

It’ll be pretty easy to enforce with the proper software

Also minors don’t have the same freedoms

[Soteris]

Proper software? Social media companies are not going to give a fuck about what some American state says so you can't force them to implement changes on their end, you can't isolate the Utah internet China style and prevent access from outside without government moderation and good luck forcing Utah citizens to install some sort of spyware software on their computers.

Minors dont have the same freedoms? You said it, not me.

[AnusNdaPainus]

They don’t have the same freedoms because they’re under the parents authority

[Soteris]

As I said, your words not mine. So how would you enforce this?

[AnusNdaPainus]

Me personally or how they probably are?

[Soteris]

If Utah can't enforce the law then it is worthless.

[AnusNdaPainus]

You’re saying it wrong I think you meant to say
“I don’t know how they can enforce it”

[Soteris]

No i dont think I am saying it wrong? "So how would you enforce this?" is perfectly fine and asks you how you would hypothetically enforce this if you were in the position of Utah or alternatively how someone could even enforce this in general depending on how you want to read it since inflections are not really transmitted over the internet. Both works.

[Anonymous]

If you think this is about protecting minors, think again. This is a back door to ending online anonymity. To comply with the law, social media companies will have to verify the identity of every user to ensure that they aren’t minors. It’s unclear yet how they will be required to do that. Digital ID? Credit card number? Facial recognition? Scans of a government ID? Think about it. How else will they know if you’re an adult or a minor using the site? These companies would then have even more information about you to sell and be forced to potentially share with the government. Several states are considering similar legislation. As more states pass this, they’ll likely force the ID requirement on everyone to avoid the inconvenience of having to tailor the platform to individual states.

[AnusNdaPainus]

If the world were mine I’d launch an EMP so everyone will have to live like the Amish

( delightful people by the way )

[CB-Raido-Time]

FINALLY, somebody here gets it!

[Opinion Owner]

@CB-Raido-Time It’s amazing how easy it is to get people to give up privacy or freedom if you frame the argument correctly.

[CB-Raido-Time]

They don't even bother to keep up with what's going doing their own research. Never mind the real purpose of it just make it sound good to them on the surface and they will automatically give it their full approval they are useful idiots.

[CB-Raido-Time]

TYPOS. They don't even bother keeping up with or knowing what's going doing their own research. Never mind the the content or the purpose just make it sound good on the surface and they will give it their stamp of full approval. They are useful idiots.

[Dargil]

It's not a ban. It is a restriction requiring parental consent. The Utah legislature has approved this, meaning voters presumably support it. If they disagree in the next election. That's the democracy works.

[AnusNdaPainus]

If the voters support it then it’ll probably be banned

[Dargil]

The legislation apparently reserves parental consent, which I agree with.

[AnusNdaPainus]

Yeah and we all know how FUN religious parents are 😂

[Dargil]

We ALL so?

[DryGermanGuy]

„Well, in those days Mars was a dreary, uninhabitable wasteland, much like Utah. But unlike Utah, Mars was eventually made liveable.“
- Prof. Farnsworth, Futurama

[AnusNdaPainus]

LMFAOAOAOAO

[mobiusforniner]

In a state thats predominantly Mormon, controlling information is paramount to the church's survival. Keep the kids dumb, and they won't know any different.

He who controls the past, commands the future.

He who commands the future, conquers the past

[AnusNdaPainus]

Social media is keeping them dumb

[mobiusforniner]

When you grow up believing the world is 6000 years old and suddenly have friends and people show you otherwise, your faith system begins to crumble.

[Tamera952]

Totally…. Mormons are stupid

[purplepoppy]

I'm surprised people in Utah are even allowed the internet. Isn't it one of those ultra religious places where the church controls everything?

[AnusNdaPainus]

Yep good ole Utah

[Tamera952]

Agreed.. it’s a beautiful state, but super duper weird. The people are like xenophobic & inbred — really nothing quite like it.

[AnusNdaPainus]

@Tamera952 cmon that’s not fair that’s like saying everyone in Florida has a meth lab in their backyard

[Tamera952]

Almost…. between that, too many MAGA retards, OrangeTang lives there, combined with prehistoric creatures in the swamps, king sized bugs, snakes, humidity, red necks galore, a rising sea level, lack gun laws, an idiot governor, ….. it’s the colon of the country. All the shit drain down that way. Kinda poopy, scary, dangerous, etc.

[welcomemen]

I think it would be good for peoples mental health

[AnusNdaPainus]

Absolutely

[welcomemen]

It’s a good thing I think

[Tamera952]

Umm, …. Utah is a weird state & not really representative of progressive ideas or new approaches to societal challenges — so, they may think they’re doing the right thing, but banning anything is usually a bad idea & probably going to backfire. It seems reactionary & not really addressing the underlying problems with social media.

[Surely]

I am not an attorney to decipher all of the legalities. Possibly a good idea on paper. But I am sure that there will be plenty of work-a-rounds! And parents that just want their children out of their hair!

[AnusNdaPainus]

Oh no! Parents will have to be parents SO TRAGIC!
LMFAOAOAOAO

[WindAtMyBack]

I wish every state would do it. But of course there is no way to enforce it.

[AnusNdaPainus]

Yes there is servers are constantly collecting information

It’s one way people fight cyberattacks

[lightbulb27]

I'm usually for freedom, but I agree. Social Media is really raw sewage spewed into your childs brain... too dangerous. Requiring parental consent AND oversight is essential.

[genericname85]

oh. so classical tv and church have the exclusive rights on inductrinating the youth again?

[AnusNdaPainus]

If that’s what the parents choose

[genericname85]

well the parents choose either way. i mean it's gonna be like pornhub has been for the longest time. just click "i'm 18" and you see all the adult material you want.

[Anonymous]

oh really? nice! though I feel like 16 would have been enough.

[AnusNdaPainus]

Right ! Like why 18?
I think it might be because of too much sexual content I mean TikTok has a serious pedo problem you can read the comments on any clip of a girl under the age of 13 dancing

[AnusNdaPainus]

It’s pretty disturbing

[WanderingLoveWizard]

It should be up to their parents, not the state!
Radical right wingers are just as restrictive on freedom as the radical left. Fucking nut jobs, all of them

[WanderingLoveWizard]

According to another poster, the law does leave it up to parents. But I still stand by what I said

[AnusNdaPainus]

If voters didn’t support it then it wouldn’t exist

[WanderingLoveWizard]

Fair enough. Still, laws have to be constitutional. If this one is then I guess it's whatever, but I don't know. I don't live in Utah anyway

[AnusNdaPainus]

It is constitutional because it’s up to the parents

[WanderingLoveWizard]

That makes sense. Guess I can't complain

[AnusNdaPainus]

I mean people are still gonna use it I know so many people who can’t put their baby to sleep without coco melon

[WanderingLoveWizard]

😂😂 that's so true

And this what I get for forming an opinion before knowing all the facts. I try not to do that

[OddBeMe]

Pilot: We’re descending into Salt Lake City…set your watch back 50 years.

[AnusNdaPainus]

LMFAOAOAOAO

[TomMarks]

And how do they plan to enforce that law? People create fake accounts all the time. And will that be a slippery slope to no online gaming under 18? (Again how would they enforce such a concept.)

[AnusNdaPainus]

That’s for someone with a higher pay grade to worry about

[SomeRandomGuy89]

I honestly think social media should be banned for all children. The level of damage these things do to the human brain is absolutely crazy. It's destroying a generation.

I don't believe even parental consent should be a loophole.