Opinion: Parents want to protect their children online. Lawmakers should help them
So, how is it that society seems less concerned with kids' intake of unmonitored online content? Without question, it can and will be even more damaging than poor nutrition now and later in adult life.
The numbers paint a grim picture. Roughly 1 in 12 children in America are exposed to sexual abuse online. In 2020 alone, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline received 21.7 million reported cases of child online sexual enticement. This is not a theoretical problem.
Every inappropriate and harmful bit of content is just a button-click away. Pornography. Violence. Self-harm. Once something remote and hard to get, this content is now widely available to children — anywhere, anytime. Here is the worst part: Even the most responsible parents may never know about the dangerous content their kids are accessing. This cannot stand.
Unlimited and unchecked online access is tearing at the very fabric of our families.
That is why the Utah Eagle Forum has fought year after year to protect the most vulnerable among us. Parents have a God-given right to protect their children and their family. We do not expect government to raise our children for us, but it is a legitimate government function to help ensure that parents have the necessary tools to do it themselves.
In this legislative session, the Utah Legislature can face this issue head-on. Utah Senate Bill 142, The App Store Accountability Act, sponsored by state Sen. Todd Weiler (R-Woods Cross), would require app store providers to enact significant child protection mechanisms. It requires app stores — like those run by Apple and Google — to verify the age of the purchaser, then requires that minors under 18 secure parental consent before downloading apps. This allows parents to monitor the content their child can access on their devices.
We are very happy to note that Sen. Weiler's SB 142 easily passed out of the Utah State Senate with a strong majority vote and now moves on to the House.
At the federal level, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has introduced a bill of the same name to require app stores to implement parental approval safeguards for children under 16 — in all 50 states. These bills at the state and federal levels would give parents the tools to protect their children.
The public supports these reforms. Around 81% of adults in the United States already support a parental consent requirement for teens to make a social media account. More than 79% of parents support legislation that would require parental approval for teens under 16 to download apps.
The good news is that this legislation is practical and implementable. The app stores already have the technological capability to enact these changes and are the most logical point of intervention for parents. There would be no major additional costs for companies to implement these safeguards, and personal data is no more at risk than it is with normal app store use.
Other bills in Congress have directed unelected bureaucrats to decide what is best for your children, which is the wrong approach. Putting parents first and giving them modern tools to protect children is the better course.
Utah lawmakers at both state and federal levels should pass the common sense and pro-family App Store Accountability Act to give our kids a chance to have a childhood free from the harms of online exploitation. The question is: Will elected officials listen to the pleas of parents asking for help?
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