Louisiana passes bill banning children from the Internet without parental consent

State lawmakers in Louisiana passed a new bill on Tuesday banning minors from creating their own social media accounts.

The bill, HB61, would ban “interactive computer services” from allowing people under the age of 18 to sign up for their own accounts without parental consent. The Bill’s definition of online services is extremely broad, seemingly barring minors from creating social media accounts on sites such as Instagram, accessing popular online games such as roblox And Fortnite, or even registering for an email address. The bill would allow parents to cancel the terms of service contracts their children entered into when signing up for existing accounts.

As of publication, it is unclear how the state plans to implement these new rules, but it calls on state entities to review the bill and provide feedback before it goes into effect.

The Louisiana State Legislature passed the bill unanimously on Tuesday, sending it to the desk of Gov. John Bel Edwards for final approval. If he chooses to sign it, the ban will take effect on August 1 of next year.

“We hope Governor Edwards will veto this bill. It violates First Amendment rights, takes away parents’ rights to their families and requires massive data collection on all citizens of Louisiana ,” Carl Szabo, NetChoice vice president and general counsel, said in a statement Thursday.

Louisiana is one of a handful of states that last year passed tougher rules for children online. In March, Utah passed a measure requiring minors to obtain a parent’s consent before using social media. In April, Arkansas passed a similar bill. Some states, such as California, have taken a less restrictive route, requiring tech companies to turn on their highest privacy settings by default for young users.

Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio and Texas have also considered similar legislation.

Like the Louisiana and Utah bills, many of these measures would force social media companies to verify the age of users before allowing them to create accounts, often requiring people to submit photo ID. The Louisiana bill does not explicitly require sites to implement an age verification program.

Members of the US Congress have also introduced similar measures under renewed pressure from the White House. In April, a group of senators introduced the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act, a bill that would ban children under 13 from social media and set up a nationwide age verification pilot program.

Over the years, civil rights groups, tech companies and the government have tried to find ways to verify a user’s age while protecting the privacy of other parts of his life. Groups such as Fight for the Future have also argued that under-18 social media bans could put children from marginalized backgrounds at risk, eliminating their access to beneficial resources online.

“It is true that Big Tech’s advertising model harms children and adolescents,” Fight for the Future said in a call for people to ask their elected officials not to pass online age restrictions. “But raising the age-limit for all social media access to those under 18? That won’t solve the problem, and is a direct assault on the First Amendment rights of millions of young people.”