Protecting Kids Online: Model Legislation

Clare Morell, Adam Candeub, and Michael Toscano

In the past year, four states—Utah, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas—have passed social-media parental-consent laws based on ideas put forward in a joint report from the Ethics and Public Policy Center and Institute for Family Studies, titled “Protecting Teens from Big Tech” (August 2022). These laws have important differences. Some include requiring full parental access or certain parental tools, some limit certain features for minor accounts, and others provide expansive exemptions. The upshot of this is that some laws are stronger than others. Evaluating the different provisions is important, as these laws are being challenged in court. In light of recent litigation and other states’ desires to pass similar laws, Clare Morell, Adam Candeub, and Michael Toscano have put together a model bill for states to use, drawing on aspects of Utah’s initial legislation and incorporating key edits and provisions—based on the recent injunction against Arkansas’s law—to strengthen it against legal challenges. The underlying approach of their model bill—the same as the laws passed thus far—is to require (1) online platforms to age-verify their users in the respective state and (2) obtain parental consent for a minor to open or operate a social media account if a user is under the age of 18. The goal is to restore parental authority and rights over children’s online behavior.

Clare's work to restore parental oversight and authority over their children's social media use was recently featured in the New York Times.

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Last week, Rachel N. Morrison, Eric Kniffin, and Natalie Dodson submitted a public comment on proposed regulations by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission which would impose an abortion accommodation mandate on America’s employers.

Rachel will speak at the University of North Dakota law school this Thursday on the topic “Gender-Affirming Care: Legal Right or Irreversible Harm?”

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On October 23, Clare will participate in a livestreamed debate on the topic "Should We Regulate Big Tech Platforms?"

Thursday, November 30, 2023 and Friday, December 1, 2023
AEI Auditorium, 1789 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036

Thirty years ago, Robert P. George’s landmark book Making Men Moral challenged the consensus that justice requires governmental neutrality on contested moral questions. How has the book shaped decades of debates about civil liberties and public morality, and why will it remain relevant in the future?

Please join EPPC and its co-sponsors for a conference on Making Men Moral’s enduring influence on public policy.

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