A North Texas Republican Consultant has put ahead a invoice that may ban everybody underneath the age of 18 from utilizing social media.
Jared Patterson, 39, of Frisco filed a invoice final Wednesday proposing that social media firms ought to require customers to confirm their age with two types of ID to realize entry to their platforms.
‘Social media is the pre-1964 cigarette,’ Patterson stated in a press release accompanying the submitting of the invoice, by which he additionally alluded to a correlation between youth suicide and social media use.
‘As soon as regarded as completely protected for customers, social media entry to minors has led to exceptional rises in self-harm, suicide, and psychological well being points,’ he stated.
Patterson’s transfer got here on the identical day Texas governor Greg Abbott ordered a ban on using TikTok on state-issued gadgets, citing issues over safety and knowledge harvesting by the Chinese language authorities.
On Monday Alabama and Utah joined the quickly rising listing of states – together with Illinois, Maryland and South Dakota – to have prohibited using the Chinese language-owned video-sharing app on state gear.
North Texas Republican Consultant Jared Patterson (pictured), 39, has filed a invoice that may forestall under-18s from accessing social media platforms
The invoice got here simply as Texas joined a rising listing of states which have banned TikTok on state-owned gadgets
Patterson helps the ban close to knowledge collected by the Texas Division of State Well being Companies regarding suicide name quantity.
His knowledge means that between 2004 and 2018 there was a 48.4 p.c improve in suicide calls amongst 13 to 19-year-olds, from 180.2 calls per 100,000 individuals in 2004 to 267.5 in 2018.
He attributes that rise to the rising means by which adolescents have taken to social media within the final decade and a half.
A 2020 state report which cites the identical knowledge discovered that the speed of potential suicide calls amongst these aged between 20 and 29 elevated by simply 7.7 p.c.
Nevertheless, calls amongst 50 to 59-year-olds have been decrease throughout the board however nonetheless rose significantly, by 52.5 p.c, from 37.8 calls to 57.6 per 100,000.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott launched an order final Wednesday banning TikTok on all state-owned gadgets
A graph in a Texas state report reveals how the quantity if suicide calls amongst three age teams modified between 2004 and 2018. Paterson attributes the rise amongst 13 to 19-year-olds to social media
Patterson’s invoice, HB 896, stipulates that social media firms ought to be required to test picture ID as a way to enable customers to entry social media websites
Patterson’s invoice, HB 896, stipulates that social media firms ought to be required to test picture ID as a way to enable customers to entry social media websites.
‘The Texas legislature should act this session to guard youngsters as a result of, so far, the social media platforms have failed to take action. HB 896 is an answer to this disaster,’ he stated.
Simply final month Patterson launched one other lengthy shot invoice that sought to dissolve town of Austin as a result of ‘elected officers have failed their metropolis’ and ‘file excessive taxes and crime are pushing people out of town,’ the Dallas Morning Information reported.
Earlier within the yr Patterson was criticized by the Nationwide Coalition Towards Censorship for his ongoing efforts to take away LGBTQ books from faculties, saying he is attempting to censor books by ‘intimidating and deceptive each faculty district in his state.’
ByteDance is the Chinese language-owned guardian firm of TikTok and employs members of the Chinese language Communist Celebration
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem banned the app from authorities gadgets, saying she refuses to permit her state to play into the intelligence gathering practices of countries that ‘hate us’
The US intelligence neighborhood has lengthy cited the Chinese language-owned app as a possible nationwide safety danger. The Trump administration proposed banning the app however the effort was reversed by Biden.
ByteDance is the Chinese language-owned guardian firm of TikTok. It employs members of the Chinese language Communist Celebration who US officers fear may compel the corporate to share US shopper knowledge with the CCP.
On Monday this week Alabama Governor Kay Ivey stated: ‘Disturbingly, TikTok harvests huge quantities of information, a lot of which has no legit connection to the app’s supposed objective of video sharing.
Use of TikTok involving state IT infrastructure thus creates an unacceptable vulnerability to Chinese language infiltration operations.’
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey banned using TikTok on state-owned gadgets on Monday
A TikTok spokesperson responded to the latest spate of bans, telling Reuters that it’s ‘disenchanted that so many states are leaping on the bandwagon to enact insurance policies based mostly on unfounded, politically charged falsehoods.’
Greg Abbott conveyed an identical sentiment to Ivey final week: ‘TikTok harvests huge quantities of information from its customers’ gadgets – together with when, the place, and the way they conduct Web exercise – and affords this trove of probably delicate data to the Chinese language authorities.’
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem additionally banned the app from authorities gadgets, saying she refuses to permit her state to play into the intelligence gathering practices of countries that ‘hate us.’
He directed Texas state companies to right away ban officers and staff from utilizing or downloading TikTok on any government-issued gadget, which included cell telephones, laptops and tablets.
