Tennessee Bill Would Require Parental Approval for Minors to Create Social Media Accounts

The dangers social media poses to young people cannot be overstated.

A new bill in Tennessee would require social media platforms verify a users’ age before allowing them to create an account and would require parental approval for minors.

The proposed legislation would also require companies provide the means for parents to track and limit children’s social media usage.

Senate Bill 2097, the Protecting Children from Social Media Act, has cleared the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee and heads next to the full Senate, Just the News reports.

The legislation would also empower the state attorney general to hold the companies accountable with legal action as well as to recover costs for such action.

“The evidence is clear: social media has harmful effects for children, teens and young adults,” said sponsor and Commerce and Labor Committee chair Sen. Jack Johnson, a Republican.

“This legislation puts parents back in the driver’s seat of their children’s social media usage,” Johnson said. “It lays out clear steps social media companies must take to verify the ages of users to protect Tennessee children and empower parents,” he also said.

Friends, you don’t have to wait for your state to pass these kinds of laws to protect your children from the damages of social media.

We have reported extensively over the years here at Elizabeth Johnston Ministries on the ways that child pornographers and predators are teeming all over social media, and children are far too easily exposed to illicit, harmful, and horrific content at every turn.

There are many steps you can take to keep your kids safe, however, such as monitoring their screen time, parental control apps and screen time settings, etc. Elizabeth and her family love their Gabb devices which are designed to protect kids online (and our readers can save $25 with this link).  

Meanwhile, we work to protect our own children at home, let’s continue to pray for lawmakers like those in Tennessee who are working to hold social media companies accountable for the threat they pose to the innocence of our children!