Social media companies applaud Utah’s latest bill aimed at teen social media use

Utah is taking another step to regulate teen social media use, this time by shifting responsibility to app stores. A newly passed bill would require Apple and Google to verify users’ ages and link minors’ accounts to a parent’s for approval before downloading apps with terms of service agreements. Unlike past efforts, this measure has earned support from major tech companies, who see app stores as the best gatekeepers. But with legal challenges already blocking similar laws, its fate remains uncertain.

This story is out of Utah, but it is a universal concern — the impact social media is having on humans as a species — young and old — across the globe. How states attempt to regulate it will be prime in the news. One thing you can be sure of as it unfolds — social media companies that monetize the the time they’ve designed their algorithms to take — will do everything in their power to pass responsibility for the consequences off to other parties.

Kyle Dunphey

Utah News Dispatch

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