Utah is not the only state considering such laws. Arkansas, Ohio, Connecticut, and Minnesota are also reportedly considering social media laws with similar age verification requirements or other age-based restrictions. At the federal level, Senator Josh Hawley has proposed a bill that would ban teenagers under 16 from using social media altogether and would require social media companies to independently verify the ages of their users. Even the US Surgeon General has expressed concerns about the minimum age requirement for social media use, suggesting that 13 may be “too young” for teenagers to be using these platforms.
The proposed laws are part of a broader discussion and reckoning around how social media is impacting its youngest users. In recent years, lawmakers, armed with research on teenage social media usage and its potential negative impacts, have been pushing for increased regulation of Big Tech, with a focus on youth safety. Alongside age verification, there have been proposals to rein in algorithms, make it more difficult to post content, and limit the “addictive” features of social media apps.
