A newly proposed bill in Texas would ban social media for children over concerns about mental health.
A North Texas lawmaker filed a bill that would require all social media users to be 18 years of age to create an account.
Patterson, a Republican, represents District 106, which includes parts of Denton County.
Patterson claimed that social media was harmful and addictive to children and compared it to cigarette use before 1964, when scientists started warning about tobacco.
“Once thought to be perfectly safe for users, social media access to minors has led to remarkable rises in self-harm, suicide, and mental health issues,” said Patterson.
Most social media sites currently require children to be at least 13 years old, but they do not normally require proof of age.
“The harms social media poses to minors are demonstrable not just in the internal research from the very social media companies that create these addictive products, but in the skyrocketing depression, anxiety, and even suicide rates we are seeing afflict children,” Greg Sindelar, CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), told the local Fox affiliate.
Texas Bans TikTok Over Cybersecurity Concerns
Meanwhile, on Dec. 7, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a letter ordering all Texas state agencies to ban the use of TikTok, a social media platform owned by the Chinese Communist Party, on all government-issued devices.“The preservation of the safety and security of Texas is critically important. The threat of the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate the United States continues to grow on multiple fronts,” said Abbott.
“While the federal government holds the ultimate responsibility for foreign policy issues, the State also has the responsibility and opportunity to protect itself.
“Because of these threats, effective immediately, every state agency in Texas shall ban its officers and employees from downloading or using TikTok on any of its government-issued devices,” he continued.
Abbott also instructed Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the state legislature to pass cybersecurity laws after the holidays in January and make the TikTok ban permanent.
All government agencies in the state of Texas will have until Feb. 15, 2023, to implement the order.
Cell phones, laptops, tablets, desktop computers, or any other devices connected to the internet used by state employees will be forbidden from retaining the app.
Other States Follow Suit
The governors of South Dakota, Maryland, South Carolina, and Nebraska have also banned TikTok from all state government devices this year.TikTok is already prohibited on U.S. government devices for most federal agencies like the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security.
The social media app allegedly has over 80 million users in the United States, and security experts have warned that ByteDance, the parent company that owns the platform, has strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and closely monitors users’ digital behavior.
Although TikTok has claimed that it stores American users’ data within the United States, the company admitted in a letter to Congress that China-based employees had access to their private information.
ByteDance was also reported to be attempting to use TikTok location information to surveil individual American citizens.
Furthermore, under the CCP’s 2017 national intelligence law, all Chinese owned businesses like ByteDance are required to assist Beijing in intelligence gathering, including data sharing.
