North Carolina lawmakers discuss bill banning social media for kids under 14
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — North Carolina lawmakers discussed House Bill 301 Tuesday, which would ban social media accounts for kids under the age of 14 and require parent or guardian consent for 14 and 15-year-olds.
'Predators have access to our kids at unprecedented levels at this time, more than ever in our history,' said state Rep. Jeff Zenger, a sponsor of the bill. 'One of their number one tools is social media.
'As a parent who has fought the battle of screen time with four kids who are now in their 20s, it is a raging battle,' Zenger said. 'The idea would be to put something up that would be a backstop for parents so that they can help regulate this and help kind of stand with this battle.'
Another argument for the bill is reducing potential for mental health issues that supporters say comes with social media use among kids.
Five other states, including Florida and Texas, already have some type of restrictions on social media usage for teens.
Asked about the bill, Raleigh parent Alicia Wenzel said, 'I do know that it does need to be filtered a little more for kids. My daughter's is filtered and she still sees things she's not supposed to see.'
At Tuesday's meeting, Reighlah Collins with the ACLU of North Carolina signed up to speak.
'While protecting children online is imperative, this bill would undermine child safety and impose likely unconstitutional restrictions on young people's ability to engage online,' she said.
Some recent changes were made to the bill.
'We were talking with the Retail Association,' Zenger said. 'They came to us about online commerce, email, educational videos and all these kinds of things. If you look, we really narrow down the scope as to what that would be. Gaming was also an issue, so we put some parameters in there for that.'
The bill was referred to the commerce and economic development committee next for discussion.
CBS 17's Mary Smith is an Investigative Reporter focused on Digging Deeper and Getting Answers. If you have a story that needs investigating, send an email to Investigates@cbs17.com.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Voters reject Huntington Beach's library review board in special election
During Tuesday's special election, nearly 60% of Huntington Beach voters approved the measure to eliminate the city's library review board. The City Council implemented the controversial policy in 2023, ordering librarians to move books deemed to be obscene or pornographic. The guideline met stiff resistance from the ACLU and local residents, including city council members who voted against the review board. "If you do look at legal jurisprudence, what that says is even moving a book from the children's section to the adult section is censorship," said Councilmember Rhonda Bolton, who voted against the board. "That's what the law says. So, I'm not going to advise anyone to do something that's not legal." In the ACLU's lawsuit against the city, former librarian Erin Spivey described the ordinance as a book ban. "When you remove a book from a section and place it in a new section that is only available to adults, that is censorship," Spivey said. In the weeks leading up to the special election, Councilman Chad Williams' political action committee paid for "Protect Our Kids from Porn" signs to be placed across Huntington Beach, sparking outrage from some parents. "I have fielded no less than 200 calls and texts and messages from outraged parents," Ocean View School Board trustee Gina Clayton Tarvin said. Williams claimed the city's libraries contained pornographic content. It's a similar allegation made by the former mayor, which led the council to approve an appointed committee to oversee which books are allowed in the children's section. "Children should not have access to these books," said former Mayor Gracey Van der Mark. "If you're an adult go for it; you can read whatever you want. But, it is our job and our responsibility to protect children from material that could be harmful for them and if they're not mentally mature enough to read these books we shouldn't be exposing them and only the parents can decide that. The government should not be deciding if this is appropriate for their children." The second measure on the ballot, Measure B, garnered nearly 61% of the vote. It aimed at solidifying the public operation of the city's libraries and barred privatization.
Associated Press
4 hours ago
- Associated Press
Families file suit challenging Arkansas law that requires Ten Commandments be posted in classrooms
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Seven Arkansas families filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging an upcoming state requirement that public school classrooms have posted copies of the Ten Commandments, saying the new law will violate their constitutional rights. The federal lawsuit challenges a measure Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into law earlier this year, similar to a requirement enacted by Louisiana and one that Texas' governor has said he'll sign. The Arkansas law takes effect in August and requires the Ten Commandments to be prominently displayed in public school classrooms and libraries. 'Permanently posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library — rendering them unavoidable — unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state's favored religious scripture,' the lawsuit said. The suit was filed on behalf of the families by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation. The lawsuit names four school districts in northwest Arkansas — Fayetteville, Bentonville, Siloam Springs and Springdale — as defendants. A spokesperson for Fayetteville schools said the district would not comment on pending litigation, while the other three districts did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Attorney General Tim Griffin said his office was reviewing the lawsuit and considering options. Attorneys for the families, who are Jewish, Unitarian Universalist or nonreligious, said they planned to ask the federal judge in Fayetteville for a preliminary injunction blocking the law's enforcement. The attorneys say the law violates longstanding Supreme Court precedent and the families' First Amendment rights. 'By imposing a Christian-centric translation of the Ten Commandments on our children for nearly every hour of every day of their public-school education, this law will infringe on our rights as parents and create an unwelcoming and religiously coercive school environment for our children,' Samantha Stinson, one of the plaintiffs, said in a news release. Louisiana was the first state to enact such a requirement, and a federal judge blocked the measure before it was to take effect Jan 1. Proponents of Louisiana's law say that ruling only applies to the five school boards listed in the suit, but The Associated Press is unaware of any posters being displayed in schools as the litigation continues. ___ Associated Press Writer Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana contributed to this report
CBS News
5 hours ago
- CBS News
Keller: Poll finds strong disapproval of how ICE handled arrest of Tufts student
The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global. A new poll of three New England states including Massachusetts finds strong disapproval of how ICE is handling immigrant arrests. "Thank you everyone for all the support and love," said Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk last month as she was freed after 45 days in ICE detention. But some supporters of Ozturk were in a less cheery mood after weeks spent working for the release of the student, hauled off the street by masked ICE agents for the offense of co-authoring an op-ed article in the Tufts student newspaper calling for an end to hostilities in Gaza. "She was never charged with any crime," noted ACLU Executive Director Carol Rose. "The government never produced any evidence that she had done anything wrong." The polls show continued support for President Trump's overall handling of immigration. But not for sending armed troops to the streets of Los Angeles, and definitely not for siccing ICE on the likes of Ozturk, whose arrest video made news all over the world. Poll shows disapproval Ozturk case A new Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll of voters in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island finds a whopping 70% disapproved of the way her case was handled, with 58% strongly objecting. Just 16% approved. Surveillance video shows Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk apprehended in Somerville, MA, on March 25. CBS Boston "They like the intent, but they don't like the methodology," said Suffolk pollster Dave Paleologos. "She didn't creep over the border in the back of a van and meet up with some seedy characters to plot to protest and overthrow the government. It could be your niece, your nephew, your grandchild and that's troubling." It's an overreach even the most hardline backers of the president's immigrant crackdown find hard to swallow. "Even within the Republican party there's compassion and empathy and pushback in terms of how ICE is treating these cases," notes Paleologos. It's pretty clear that voters wanted something done about dangerous criminals here illegally. And now they're making it clear that a mild-mannered college student who co-wrote a benign op-ed piece isn't what they had in mind. But Paleologos suggests the proof will be in the crime statistics. If they take a nosedive, Trump will be widely applauded for his policies despite its mistakes. If they don't, more than a few will wonder -- what on earth was this all about?
