04-04-2025
Ohio GOP targeting app permissions for teens
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio lawmakers want to give parents more oversight on what apps their children can download.
'This legislation is so vital to protecting our kids,' Ohio Rep. Melanie Miller (R-Ashland) said.
A little more than a year ago, state law required that social media companies verify users are older than 16, and if they aren't, to gain a parent's consent before allowing the teenager to create an account. A federal judge called the law a 'breathtakingly blunt instrument for reducing social media's harm to children,' and struck the law down less than a month after it went into effect.
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Since then, Ohio Gov. Michael DeWine has called for a new approach and now lawmakers said they are hopeful their new method is airtight.
'While the 'what' may be the same, the 'how' is different,' Ohio Sen. Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester) said. 'It's going to be able to withstand a constitutional challenge.'
Now, instead of requiring age verification on individual apps, Senate Bill 167, and a soon-to-be identical House bill, would make it so parents with children under 16 can be notified if they choose, any time their child tries to download an app like Instagram or TikTok. This puts the age verification method up front, instead of in the app itself.
'The App Store already has mechanisms to collect this information once, not 40 different times,' Reynolds said.
'The app wouldn't download on the teen's phone unless the parent approves it,' Miller said. 'This legislation will put parents, not the government, in charge of their children's online access.'
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The lawmakers behind this bill said it is about making sure kids stay safe, and helping reduce bullying.
Tony Coder, executive director of the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation (OSPF), is supportive of the measure. He said one 15-year-old who was bullied in school comes to mind.
'He'd go home and through his Instagram, which his mom didn't know he had, the bullying would continue,' Coder said.
Coder said the inability to escape the bullying eventually added up.
'When he was just 15 years old, this young man reached out on Instagram to the world with a statement: 'I will give everyone 30 minutes to let me know you care.' Reaching out to anybody in that vast sea of people, but not one person answered,' Coder said. 'And that evening, which was also his mom's birthday, that young man took his life.'
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Social media companies like Meta favor these types of proposals and have called for the federal government to enact a similar law. This is despite criticism that social media companies are trying to pass responsibility.
However, tech companies like Apple have supposedly worked behind the scenes to squash these bills in other states.
'I'm not going to be naive to think that we're going to have everybody on board,' Reynolds said. 'But hopefully, for the most part, it's good policy and good policy prevails.'
Several other states have similar legislation, and Utah just signed a similar bill into law a few weeks ago.
The governor's office did not respond to our request for comment on the new bill. Democratic leaders also did not comment.
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