Utah is Stepping Up To Protect Kids Online
March 30, 2023
The state of Utah is leading the way in protecting kids online. And it's doing so by empowering parents. Just last week, Governor Spencer Cox signed two historic social media bills into law. The United States Congress and every other state should follow Utah's lead in protecting kids from the harms of social media.
The only federal law related to protecting children online is the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), passed in 1998 well before the advent of social media. COPPA allows companies to collect data from children over the age of 13 without parental consent, which due to the companies' business model has made 13 the de facto age for social media. Utah's laws are therefore the first of their kind and hopefully many more states will follow suit.
