Bill aims to reset age restrictions

By Grace Geshrick
Beacon Correspondent

A bill introduced in the state Senate would prohibit children under the age of 16 from accessing or creating accounts on social media platforms.

Michigan Senate Bill No. 996, introduced May 20, would also require 16- and 17-year-olds to receive parental consent to create a social media account. 

State Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah Township) said the main purpose of the bill is “to try to protect children from the dangers of the internet.”

Senate Bill No. 996 states, “Beginning on the effective date of this act, a social media company shall not allow an individual who is under 16 years of age to view or access a social media platform or to create or maintain an account on a social media platform. Beginning on the effective date of this act, a social media company shall not allow an individual who is 16 years of age or older but less than 18 years of age to view or access a social media platform or to create or maintain an account on a social media platform without the express written consent of the individual’s parent or legal guardian.”

Munising resident Natalia St. Amour, 18, said social media can have a lot of mental health effects on teens. She said she thinks “the age limit [in the bill] is a little high,” but she also believes the current minimum age of 13 is too low. 

If the bill becomes state law, McBroom said, social media platforms would be required to perform age verification to ensure users are not lying about their age when they create a social media account.

The bill defines a social media platform as “a website or internet application that a social media company makes available for an individual to create an account to communicate with other account holders and users through posts.”

In the bill, social media platforms do not include email, broadband internet access services or online services, websites or applications if “content is preselected by the provider and is not generated by account holders” and “interactive functionality is incidental to, directly related to or dependent on, the preselected content.”

St. Amour said social media can be a big distraction for teenagers and is a major part of their lives. She estimates that at least half the time students spend on their phone is related to social media.

In order to become law, the bill would have to be approved by the Michigan House of Representatives and signed by the governor. McBroom said this is a possibility but it would probably not happen before the end of the year. He added that “the issue is gaining support.”

The bill further states, “If a social media company violates this act, the attorney general may bring a civil action against that social media company seeking a civil fine of $25,000.00 per day that the social media company violates this act.”

St. Amour said if this bill becomes a law, it will likely cause a lot of drama between teenagers and their parents.

McBroom added that a similar law in Australia banning social media use by those under 16 has had some success.