A state Senate committee voted Wednesday to ban kids under age 14 from using social media. The bill would also require social media users who are age 14 or 15 to get a parent's consent to create an account.
Lawmakers say apps like Facebook and Instagram can have harmful effects on young people.
Social media platforms are "the number one tool for predators to go after our children," said Rep. Jeff Zenger, R-Forsyth and the bill's sponsor. "If you look at any of the studies that are happening in the psychiatry industry, there's nobody that says that kids being on social media all the time is a great idea."
Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake, says the regulation would help schools. "I think that this legislation is so important because we see teachers competing for children's attention with the algorithms, and that includes my own children," he said.
Whitney Campbell Christensen, a lobbyist for Meta (the parent company of Instagram and Facebook), says the company supports the bill and can implement age verification through app stores. It has been working with bill sponsors on the details of the legislation.
"Meta is very proud to support an app store age verification," Christensen told legislators. "We think that's the best way to make sure that all of the apps — not just the good players like Facebook and Instagram — but the smaller ones, the international ones, don't end up becoming a workaround where young people can't get on Facebook or can't get on Instagram because their age is properly being verified."
Social media sites that violate the regulations could be prosecuted by the N.C. Department of Justice under "unfair and deceptive trade practices" laws.
The bill passed the House last May in a 106-6 vote, but the Senate sent it to the Rules Committee and didn't give it a hearing last year. Wednesday's hearing and vote in the Senate Education/Higher Education Committee is a sign it could have a shot at getting to Gov. Josh Stein's desk this year, but it will need to pass two more Senate committees before it reaches a floor vote.
Artificial intelligence proposal added to bill
Before the Senate's education committee voted in favor of the bill, it added a mostly unrelated provision addressing artificial intelligence in schools.
That proposal would create new content standards for AI as part of the State Board of Education's standards for computer science classes. School districts would also be required to create their own AI policies.
"This is to provide training for teachers and administrators and giving them the tools to integrate AI into instruction, while also being able to maintain academic integrity and protecting student data," said Sen. Dana Jones, R-Forsyth.
Sen. Michael Lee, R-New Hanover, says he anticipates budget writers will approve funding needed for the new AI legislation.
