COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A new law called the Social Media Parental Notification Act was set to go into effect on Monday, but a decision by a federal judge put it on hold until at least Jan. 23.
“I think this was fully expected,” Gov. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) said.
The law was designed to require children under 16 to get consent from their parents or guardian before signing up for social media.
“It seems to me very reasonable, if social media is going to be used by minors, that the parents have an ability to have some control over that,” DeWine said.
As written in the state’s law, social media companies like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok can adopt age verification in several ways — from mail to calling a toll-free number to ID verification.
“I have great concerns about what’s happening to our children because of this online presence that’s going on, where more children are addicted to these platforms,” Lt. Gov. John Husted said. “You see it affect their mental health, their academic performance, you see more bullying, you see children become addicted to these platforms.”
Last week, a temporary restraining order was put on the law, meaning it is on pause until next Tuesday, at which point the judge can extend that order by another two weeks.
“Every time you pass a bill now, somebody is lawyered up and have their lawyers and are filing something,” DeWine said.
NBC4 reached out to Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for a statement. A spokesperson said they will have “more on this tomorrow,” but in the meantime, directed us to this link, written by an executive for the company. The executive said Meta does support federal legislation to require app stores to get parents’ approval whenever teens under 16 download a social media app, but said that right now, there is a “patchwork” of different laws being passed across the country, calling it “inconsistent security and privacy practices.”
Ohio’s attorney general said social media companies should have no problem adhering to the law.
“You know everything about us, you know how old we are, I mean, there’s a reason I get AARP ads in my feed,” Attorney General Dave Yost (R-Ohio) said. “Our children deserve to be protected.”
“These devices are causing harm in our students’ lives and we are going to have to continue to be ever so vigilant as parents and educators, public policymakers, to make sure we are protecting our children from the harm coming from these devices,” Husted said.
Husted said the state should not wait to act on this.
“We’re seeing that even the presence of smartphones in schools are reducing the academic performance and increasing the amount of mental health challenges and bullying that students face,” he said.
Meta said it has a number of methods to keep kids safe, despite being involved in another lawsuit filed by serval states including Ohio about the company’s safety policies.
A hearing on the preliminary injunction is scheduled for Feb. 7. If a preliminary injunction is placed on the law, that means it will be paused from going into effect until the legal battle is settled.