(Des Moines) Supporters said a bill in the Iowa House requiring parental consent for minors to create social media accounts was a necessary step to protect children from sex trafficking and predators. But some speakers at a subcommittee meeting Wednesday said the measure as written could allow for social media companies to collect a vast amount of personal data.
House File 278 would require social media companies to obtain parental authorization before allowing a child to create an account on their platform, with parents allowed to revoke access at any time. The minor’s parent or guardian would also be required to have access to the approved account to view posts and messages received.
The state attorney general would be allowed to bring a civil action against companies in violation of the measure with a maximum penalty of $1,000 per violation.
As of June 2024, 10 states have passed laws restricting minors’ access to social media, with seven requiring parental consent. Several speakers with the group Protect My Innocence, a conservative nonprofit, called for Iowa to join these states, saying that social media use has been linked to detrimental mental health outcomes for children, and that sex traffickers and predators often use social media to make inappropriate contact with children.
Anita Fischer with Protect My Innocence cited a 2023 advisory from former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy that stated “our children have become unknowing participants in a decades-long experiment” in social media use that could have major impacts on their health and well-being.
“I’m asking you to please protect Iowa’s children from this social media experiment,” Fischer said.
But some technology advocates said the bill could have unintended consequences — particularly related to data collection. Logan Murray with the Technology Association of Iowa said the measure would require social media companies to collect personally identifiable information from minors and their adult guardians, which he said could present more opportunities for data misuse or for this data to be accessed through breaches.
He also said enforcement of the bill could be difficult, as it would require social media companies to confirm that the person providing consent for a minor creating an account is actually the guardian of the child.
Max Pringle, an Indianola software engineer and intelligence officer with the Iowa Army National Guard, suggested shifting parental control requirements to phone carriers and device manufacturers as a way to implement restrictions that would not require social media companies to collect personal data from parents and children.
“This approach protects children while respecting privacy and keeps power in the parents’ hands, without giving social media companies even more control,” Pringle said. “God knows, they have enough of that.”
Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, said he came into the discussion “as the youth” in the conversation — someone who had a MySpace page at age 13 and a Facebook account at 14. He said while he was supportive of efforts to protect children in these online spaces, social media also offered children some benefits, such as sports scouting or the ability to connect with family.
“I’m in agreement with the overall attempt we’re trying to make here, but I also don’t want to get into, and I’m not going to get into a position, where I think Twitter is evil,” Wheeler said. “I think there are advantages to social media sometimes for young kids. I do think it can also harm them in more ways than just what they see.”
The bill was unanimously advanced out of subcommittee, with plans for more discussion on potential changes to the measure. Rep. Samantha Fett, R-Carlisle, said there may be some changes to the legislation’s language, but she supported the measure’s intent of allowing more parental oversight.
“The data collection is certainly a concern for me as well, that I think is something that we will sort through,” Fett said. “But the spirit of this bill is really to make sure parents are involved, but also can revoke that authorization as well, which is what’s in here. So I like that parents are in the driver’s seat.”
