LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas legislature gave final legislative approval yesterday to a Republican senator's bill mandating that a number of major open social media platforms — including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Snapchat — implement age verification starting Sept. 1.
SB 396, sponsored by state Sen. Tyler Dees (R-Siloam Springs), also establishes that new users “under age 18 will need the express consent of a parent or guardian to create online profiles” the Arkansas Advocate reported.
Dees, a poultry plant executive who says he spends his free time in Bible study, urged the Senate to pass his bill because “teens and children are being exposed to harmful people and inappropriate content on social media,” the Advocate reported. He also claimed that mandatory age verification for certain websites “would empower parents to protect their kids.”
A fellow Republican, Sen. Ricky Hill (Cabot) opposed Dees and called SB 396 “a communistic China bill.”
Hill argued that the new law “would pick winners and losers, expose Arkansans’ sensitive personal information and hamper personal freedom,” the Advocate reported.
“We’re wanting to put something into law that’s not going to change anything, except we’re going to have our identity stolen,” Hill said. “Let’s be parents.”
The bill creates financial and criminal liability for each instance of non-compliance, and applies only to “the largest social media companies, like Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram; TikTok; Twitter; Snapchat and others,” the Advocate noted. “It does not apply to platforms that generate less than $100,000,000 in gross annual revenue, and is written in a way that exempts some platforms, like YouTube, LinkedIn, online video games, email and messenger services, streaming sites and e-commerce.”
The law is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who stated last month her belief that “Big Tech exploits children for profits.”
As XBIZ reported, Dees is also the main sponsor of another Republican bill, SB 66, which would require age verification before “entering a website offering pornography” and is currently being debated in the state senate.
Main Image: Anti-porn Arkansas State Senator Tyler Dees (R-Siloam Springs) (Photo: Arkansas Senate)