Utah is passing a new account requiring app stores to check the age and identity of users

Utah’s legislature has adopted a new bill that will require applications stores to check the age and identity of all users, including adults. The bill is now awaiting a signature from Governor Spencer Cox, who signed a such bill last year, which was blocked by a federal judge for fears of the first amendment.

The intention of the law seems to be a step towards limiting youth access to social media. Governor Cox is critic of the use of social media by teenagers, and previously tried to ban the Tictoc in his condition, saying him Has deliberately designed its app to hang teens. Which is good that all social media applications aim to make all demographic data.

Governments around the world seek to take advantage of the use of social media by teens, claiming to be a special threat during the development of early childhood and are harassment vectors. At the end of last year, Australia has passed one of the world’s largest internet repression, forbidding children under 16 from being on social media, although the government has admitted that it may be difficult to apply. The recently adopted UK’s Online Safety Act requires online platforms to prevent children from seeing age -appropriate content.

Proponents of such laws say that teens are already limited to access to other harmful products, such as alcohol and cigarettes, and social media should be limited in a similar way to adults who have more fully formed brains. Vivek Murthy, the general surgeon of the US surgeon under President Biden, claims last year that social media platforms should include warning labels that emphasize the potential harm to the mental health of adolescents. However, he admitted that many youngsters Report the benefits of using social mediasuch as finding belonging in communities with unanimity. Tiktok’s #Booktok community is an example of a growing trend among teenagers to use social media in positive light.

The greater care of the critics of the laws requiring identity check is that they threaten individual privacy, requiring everyone, including adults, to identify themselves in order to access platforms. States led by GOP, including Florida, Texas and Kentucky, have recently implemented personal documents on adult websites, leading to sites like Pornhub from End -operations In these countries, they are not fully at risk to users.

Scandalous Ashley Madison’s hack In 2015, as a result of which the personal information of users of the adult website is shared online, demonstrated the potential harm to such laws. There are many reasons why one may not want to share their personal information with a website. Excessive laws aimed at “adult content” are wide and can be used to target websites that the government does not like. People may want to express themselves without fear of being identified.

“Utah has already approved such a bill focused on social media, and the courts have correctly blocked it. The same is likely to happen here, ” said The House of Progress Government Relations Senior Director Robert Singleton. “This bill invades everyone’s privacy and forces even adults to share sensitive data just to use their own devices. Instead of making the Internet more fed, this bill invites new risks and unforeseen harm. “

Even if these laws are kept in court, they can be as effective as the ban that was strongly influenced by religion (so much to divide a church and a state) and simply pressed alcohol underground. Pornography will move to darker angles of the Internet that do not check age, do not obey the law, or perform any moderation of content. Opposed, the laws of age check can make the Internet more dangerous – for both teens and adults.

If teens are to be limited by the use of social media, this solution should probably rest with parents.