Texas Governor Greg Abbott has just signed a bill into law that would prohibit minors from having social media accounts, or accounts on digital platforms, without the consent of their parent or guardian. 

According to the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act, “a digital service provider may enter into an agreement with a known minor if the known minor’s parent or guardian consents in a verifiable manner that: is specific, informed, and unambiguous; and occurs in the absence of any financial incentive.”

Minor is someone who is under 18 years old. Digital service providers, such as social media companies, must check the age of whoever is trying to make an account in Texas. They must verify the parent or guardian’s identity and relation to the minor for them to approve the account. 

The digital service platforms, anything from websites, social media, online games, video streaming, and others that require some sort of contract, such as the terms and services agreement, or access to any personal identifying information such as a birthdate to create an account, all apply under this law.

Previous reporting states that, “this law does not apply to digital service providers that are state agencies, financial institutions, universities, businesses and entities that are under the rules of the United States Health and Human Services Department, or employers.”

The SCOPE Act requires parents to be given tools by the digital service provider to have oversight of their child’s social media accounts and other digital-based platform accounts. This includes the parent being able to set parental controls, delete any personal identification information the company has on the account, and set privacy settings. “As part of the law, a minor’s verified parents can review and download personal identifying information associated with the minor and likewise request its deletion,” said an article by Gizmodo.

A child that is in the Department of Family and Protective Services will have their caregiver or member of the department’s staff act as the guardian in this situation. 

Under the law, digital service providers have a duty to prevent minors from accessing harmful material that encourages self-harm, eating disorders, suicide, stalking, bullying, harassment, substance abuse, grooming, trafficking, pornography, and sexual abuse. 

They are to do this through filtering mechanisms that they choose. Under the new law, digital service providers must create filters and software that remove harmful content from minors’ accounts. The SCOPE Act also says digital service providers have a duty to prevent targeted advertising to minors that is harmful or illegal for the child to use, such as drugs and alcohol. Many kids can buy drugs off of social media. 

Lastly, digital service providers must limit the collection of personal identifying information and cannot share, disclose, or sell that minor’s information. Minors cannot make purchases through digital service providers. Additionally, digital service providers cannot geolocate a child. 

The bill also amends the Texas Education Code to say the State Board of Education will adopt standards for electronic devices given to students and software for public and charter schools. The standards must minimize data collection and access to harmful websites and applications. Parental consent must also be established before a student can access school software.

This does not apply to educational assessments or assessments for college, career, or military readiness. The schools are to mitigate access to assessments that are related to mental health or anything non-educational. The amended law also states the State Board of Education will adopt standards for the handling of devices, what time those devices can be activated, access to social media, Internet filters, and help parents understand cybersecurity risks and online safety

Read the full bill here.

Governor Abbott signed another bill into law that requires pornography websites to have age verifications from people in the state of Texas. It is now Texas law to prohibit anyone in Texas under 18 years old to access pornography online. The law requires digital platforms that have more than one-third of their content pornographic or obscene to have age verification methods that reveal if a person is 18 or older to access the website. The platforms are also not allowed to retain a minor’s information.

Additionally, the law requires that these platforms have health warnings on their website. Those health warnings are:

• “TEXAS HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES WARNING: Pornography is potentially biologically addictive, is proven to harm human brain development, desensitizes brain reward circuits, increases conditioned responses, and weakens brain function.
• “TEXAS HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES WARNING: Exposure to this content is associated with low self-esteem and body image, eating disorders, impaired brain development, and other emotional and mental illnesses.”
• “TEXAS HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES WARNING: Pornography increases the demand for prostitution, child exploitation, and child pornography.
• “U.S. SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION HELPLINE: 1-800-662-HELP (4357). THIS HELPLINE IS A FREE, CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION SERVICE (IN ENGLISH OR SPANISH) OPEN 24 HOURS PER DAY, FOR INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILY MEMBERS FACING MENTAL HEALTH OR SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS.  THE SERVICE PROVIDES REFERRAL TO LOCAL TREATMENT FACILITIES, SUPPORT GROUPS, AND COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS.”

The penalties for violating this law are $10,000 a day for each day the age verification was not implemented and $10,000 for every instance that identification data is retained by the company.