State Sen. Tanya Storer (R-NE) recently introduced a bill that would require social media websites to verify age before allowing Nebraskans to create a profile. Those younger than 18 would need parental consent. The idea is to protect children’s mental health, an ongoing issue that many studies suggest is exacerbated or partly caused by social media. But is government intervention the answer here?
The Pitfalls of Social Media Regulations
Other states have already enacted similar laws. Florida now requires 14- and 15-year-olds to have parental consent to use social media and has banned kids under 14 from using certain platforms. Parental consent is needed for all minors in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Ohio would have required kids under 16 to get a parent’s permission, but the law was blocked when “[t]he US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio said in February that it targeted speech on social media platforms based on content, speaker, and viewpoint and burdened both adults’ and minors’ access to speech,” explained Bloomberg Law in November 2024.
Some courts, such as those in Arkansas, also have struck down legislation that demanded age verification for minors using social media sites. The Natural State’s law “was preliminarily enjoined on First Amendment grounds when a court found it ‘likely that many adults who otherwise would be interested in becoming account holders on regulated social media platforms will be deterred — and their speech chilled — as a result of the age-verification requirements,’” said Bloomberg Law.
For age verification to work, sites must use geolocation data from users’ devices to determine whether they’re in a state that mandates it. Some people avoid such restrictions by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which makes it appear as if they’re somewhere else and protects their privacy. A study published in ResearchGate in 2023 revealed that 41% of middle school kids use VPNs to browse the internet. What’s to stop other minors from doing the same?
More troubling, though, is that age verification software requires a digitized identification card carrying the same information as a driver’s license or other forms of government-issued IDs. What happens to all that data is a big concern, especially since it is not only minors who must upload an ID but anybody creating a new account, which can also make it easier for hackers, companies, and the government to spy on people. Aside from privacy concerns, critics believe the government demanding companies use age verification is a violation of constitutional rights because it hinders anonymous speech.
“As private companies, individual social media platforms may choose to require users to provide identifying information or use their real names when signing up for the service,” explains the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). “However, the Constitution prohibits the government from forcing social media platforms to collect that information. Even the act of collecting this information can have a dramatic and unacceptable chilling effect on speech.”
The more some states try to childproof the internet, the more constitutional hurdles they seem to face.
When Did Mental Health Become a Government Issue?
From 2013 to 2023, symptoms of poor mental health in minors worsened, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors became more prevalent, according to a survey of more than 20,000 high-school students conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2023, a third of teenage girls said they had seriously considered suicide, and more than 50% admitted feeling sad or hopeless. A more recent CDC study, published in October 2024, showed persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness were more commonly reported by students who used apps like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram several times a day. In 2020, diagnoses of depression and anxiety in kids aged 3 to 17 rose by 30% compared to 2016, according to a 2022 study published in JAMA Pediatrics, a peer-reviewed medical journal.
Of course, the amount of time kids spend on these apps makes a difference. “Teens who spend five or more hours per day on social media apps are significantly more likely to report experiencing negative emotions compared with those who spend less than two hours per day,” said Gallup in October 2023. More importantly, perhaps, is that “the strength of the parent relationship -- in addition to parental supervision and regulation of screen time -- predicts much less time spent on social media.”
Then there’s this, also from Gallup: “Across all categories of social media use, mental health outcomes are much worse for teens who report a weak parental relationship than those who report a strong one.”
Anecdotal evidence is insightful, but it’s not conclusive. Still, the government appears to be making some giant leaps, ignoring less invasive solutions without considering the facts. The laws restricting and banning minors’ social media use are often hailed as tools to help parents better control their kids’ internet habits, yet several options already exist for that purpose, like Bark, an app that allows parents to monitor children’s internet consumption and block various apps and websites, among other things -- and all without violating anybody’s rights or privacy. Most people would probably agree that children’s mental health is affected by certain platforms and that it’s an issue that needs addressing, but whose responsibility should it be?
