Louisiana passes bill that BANS minors from signing up to social media apps ... trends now
Louisiana has passed a bill that bans children under the age of 18 from signing up for their own social media accounts without parental consent.
The legislation is known as HB61 and has now been sent to the State's Governor John Bel Edwards to sign. If he does, it will take effect in August 2024.
Online platforms - including video games, video-sharing apps, and social media networks - would use a third-party service to get a parent's consent before the child could use it.
The legislature includes 'interactive computer services' - an incredibly broad term - which would therefore bar under 18s from accessing games like Roblox and Fortnite, and setting up Instagram, Twitter or YouTube accounts.
It could even stop minors from setting up their own email accounts without permission from their parents.
The far-reaching age verification legislation is known as HB61 and now has been sent to the State's Governor John Bel Edwards (pictured) to sign. If he does, the legislation will take effect in August 2024
The bill would also work historically. This means parents could go back and cancel terms-of-service contracts their children signed up for before the legislature even went into play.
The Louisiana bill does not explicitly require social media sites to verify users' ages with photo ID.
Louisiana was already one of the first states to pass age verification requirements for adult pornography websites - and now this legislation will go a step further and attempt to protect minors from other edges of the internet.
The unanimous 97 to 0 vote in both chambers of the Louisiana state legislature has shown the immense support for child safeguarding among lawmakers.
Republican Laurie Schlegel is the spearhead of the new bill - after she championed the passing of the Louisiana pornography verification law last year.
Campaign groups who have spoken out against taking harsher stances on online safety say
