DES MOINES — Online pornography sites would require age verification and parental consent would be required for a minor to create a social media account in the state under proposals advancing in the Iowa Legislature.
The proposed bills take different approaches at achieving a similar goal: to protect Iowa children from pornography and other online content that proponents believe to be objectionable or harmful.
“Protecting children from harm is a primary duty that parents have. And the state of Iowa also has a vested interest in doing that as well. Yet, in this day and age, the devices that children use on a daily basis have let it be available — hard-core pornography content, videos and pictures that harm the minds of these minors,” Cheryl Elsloo, with the Pella-based advocacy group Protect My Innocence, said during the public comment period of a legislative hearing on one of the proposals Tuesday at the Iowa Capitol.
Under one bill, parental consent would be required for anyone in Iowa under the age of 18 to create a social media account. That bill is scheduled for its first legislative hearing Wednesday morning.
The other bill which was featured in Tuesday’s subcommittee hearing, is destined for some changes, according to its manager.
Originally, that bill would have required the activation of a filter whenever a minor in Iowa activated a phone or created an account on a phone. But the bill is being reworked after phone manufacturers said such a law would be infeasible because manufacturers do not delineate to which states phones are shipped.
Computer & Communications Industry Association, a national trade organization that represents communications and technology firms, issued a statement agreeing with the legislation’s stated goal but also noting the ways it would be logistically difficult for manufacturers to comply.
“CCIA shares the overall goal of increased privacy and security for younger users online and has concerns about how technically infeasible and sweeping laws could give rise to consumer confusion and costly litigation without providing meaningful protections,” CCIA State Policy Director Khara Boender said in the statement.
Lobbyists for mobile companies Apple and T-Mobile spoke at the legislative hearing, and in addition to noting the logistical hurdles, pointed out that there already are options on devices, websites and applications for parents to restrict content from their children.
Rep. John Wills, a Republican from Spirit Lake, said that in the process of running the bill he learned more about how phones are manufactured and sold. Because of that, Wills said, he plans to change the proposal to focus on an age verification requirement for pornography sites, plus an education campaign that teaches parents and children how to create safeguards on phones.
“What I learned is that, basically, the way this bill is written, we would have to make Apple and Google and all these great, big, worldwide corporations change their practices. Well, they’re not going to do that for Iowa,” Wills said. “So it became very evident that we’re going to have to make some changes to the bill.”
Wills said his plan is to model his proposal after an instruction and education program from Florida, and an age verification system recently enacted in Utah. As a result of Utah’s policy, the pornography website PornHub blocked access to its site from the state.
Wills’ proposal, House File 2114, was advanced Tuesday by the two Republicans on a three-member legislative panel. It is now eligible for consideration by the full House Judiciary Committee.
The proposal to require parental consent for a minor to create a social media account, House File 2255, is scheduled for consideration in a subcommittee hearing Wednesday. It is also running through the House Judiciary Committee.
Rep. Charley Thomson, a Republican from Charles City, said his proposal attempts to help parents protect their children from the dangers of social media for young people.
According to the Mayo Clinic, while social media can be healthy for teens, it also can have negative effects: it can distract teens from their homework, disrupt sleep, create unrealistic body images, expose them to online predators and raise the risk of mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.
“The problem I see … is that there’s a gap in the ability of parents to control things that really they are responsible for,” Thomson said Tuesday. “Here’s all this social media out there, and not all of it is happy. Some of it can get very dark, very fast. … So this restores to parents a level of control that they have traditionally had.”
Thomson said believes the bill also is fair to social media companies, and that he has been working with their lobbyists at the Iowa Capitol.
The lone group registered in opposition to the bill is TechNet, which represents dozens of tech companies, including Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
www.thegazette.com
The proposed bills take different approaches at achieving a similar goal: to protect Iowa children from pornography and other online content that proponents believe to be objectionable or harmful.
“Protecting children from harm is a primary duty that parents have. And the state of Iowa also has a vested interest in doing that as well. Yet, in this day and age, the devices that children use on a daily basis have let it be available — hard-core pornography content, videos and pictures that harm the minds of these minors,” Cheryl Elsloo, with the Pella-based advocacy group Protect My Innocence, said during the public comment period of a legislative hearing on one of the proposals Tuesday at the Iowa Capitol.
Keeping pornography away from minors
Under one bill, parental consent would be required for anyone in Iowa under the age of 18 to create a social media account. That bill is scheduled for its first legislative hearing Wednesday morning.
The other bill which was featured in Tuesday’s subcommittee hearing, is destined for some changes, according to its manager.
Originally, that bill would have required the activation of a filter whenever a minor in Iowa activated a phone or created an account on a phone. But the bill is being reworked after phone manufacturers said such a law would be infeasible because manufacturers do not delineate to which states phones are shipped.
Computer & Communications Industry Association, a national trade organization that represents communications and technology firms, issued a statement agreeing with the legislation’s stated goal but also noting the ways it would be logistically difficult for manufacturers to comply.
“CCIA shares the overall goal of increased privacy and security for younger users online and has concerns about how technically infeasible and sweeping laws could give rise to consumer confusion and costly litigation without providing meaningful protections,” CCIA State Policy Director Khara Boender said in the statement.
Lobbyists for mobile companies Apple and T-Mobile spoke at the legislative hearing, and in addition to noting the logistical hurdles, pointed out that there already are options on devices, websites and applications for parents to restrict content from their children.
Rep. John Wills, a Republican from Spirit Lake, said that in the process of running the bill he learned more about how phones are manufactured and sold. Because of that, Wills said, he plans to change the proposal to focus on an age verification requirement for pornography sites, plus an education campaign that teaches parents and children how to create safeguards on phones.
“What I learned is that, basically, the way this bill is written, we would have to make Apple and Google and all these great, big, worldwide corporations change their practices. Well, they’re not going to do that for Iowa,” Wills said. “So it became very evident that we’re going to have to make some changes to the bill.”
Wills said his plan is to model his proposal after an instruction and education program from Florida, and an age verification system recently enacted in Utah. As a result of Utah’s policy, the pornography website PornHub blocked access to its site from the state.
Wills’ proposal, House File 2114, was advanced Tuesday by the two Republicans on a three-member legislative panel. It is now eligible for consideration by the full House Judiciary Committee.
Parental consent for social media accounts
The proposal to require parental consent for a minor to create a social media account, House File 2255, is scheduled for consideration in a subcommittee hearing Wednesday. It is also running through the House Judiciary Committee.
Rep. Charley Thomson, a Republican from Charles City, said his proposal attempts to help parents protect their children from the dangers of social media for young people.
According to the Mayo Clinic, while social media can be healthy for teens, it also can have negative effects: it can distract teens from their homework, disrupt sleep, create unrealistic body images, expose them to online predators and raise the risk of mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.
“The problem I see … is that there’s a gap in the ability of parents to control things that really they are responsible for,” Thomson said Tuesday. “Here’s all this social media out there, and not all of it is happy. Some of it can get very dark, very fast. … So this restores to parents a level of control that they have traditionally had.”
Thomson said believes the bill also is fair to social media companies, and that he has been working with their lobbyists at the Iowa Capitol.
The lone group registered in opposition to the bill is TechNet, which represents dozens of tech companies, including Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
Restrictions on porn, social media advancing in Iowa Legislature
One proposal aims to require age verification for pornography sites; another would require parental consent for minors to have a social media account
www.thegazette.com
