Social media platforms cannot be obligated to block teens from viewing certain content, stated a federal judge. It appears the judge may have considered a new law in Texas as a threat to free speech online.
Teens cannot be barred from viewing certain content on social media, observes judge
Social media platforms attract a large number of teens and young adults. However, they cannot be forced to block certain content from teens, ruled a judge. Judge Robert Pitman appears to have ruled in favor of the big tech companies. However, the judgment is a little more nuanced.
Judge Pitman has issued a last-minute partial block on a Texas law that was supposed to take effect Sunday, September 1st. The judge reportedly called out the “monitoring and filtering” requirements of the new law as a threat to speech online.
🚨 BREAKING: A federal judge has just blocked Texas’s controversial HB18, known as the SCOPE Act, which aimed to infantilize the internet under the guise of “protecting minors.” This law was set to turn the digital landscape into a sanitized playground, stripping away the rights…
— DeepTies (@CivilSophrosyne) September 2, 2024
He was reportedly referring to the Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act. It demands that social media platforms must verify the age of their users. The law has specific policies and regulations that social media firms need to follow to ensure teens aren’t exposed to harmful content online.
US Judge states certain stipulations of SCOPE Act are objectionable
The Scope Act also limits social media platforms from harvesting data from those under 18. It also directs platforms to prevent teens from viewing targeted ads. Moreover, the law states that any financial transaction on online platforms mustn’t be allowed to go through without parental approval.
The judge objected to only one particular requirement in the law. Specifically speaking, the law mandates social media platforms must have specific protocols in place to “prevent the known minor’s exposure to harmful material.”
A new law in Texas, known as the Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment Act (SCOPE Act) or House Bill 18, has taken effect requiring parental approval for children to create social media accounts. https://t.co/PP6uOUdDVZ
— Cameron Insights (@CameronInsights) September 3, 2024
The definition of harmful material includes content that “glorifies” or promotes topics like suicide, substance abuse, and grooming. Additionally, the law also categorized platform that shows content that is more than one-third harmful or obscene. Such platforms must come up with a way to verify a user’s age. Needless to say, these provisions are subject to existing state law.
For the time being, two stipulations of the SCOPE Act reportedly remain in effect. Social media platforms must not collect personal data from teens under 18. Consequentially, the rule requiring age verification for sites with large amounts of adult content is also in force.
Moving forward, the law could face further scrutiny. This is because Judge Pitman reportedly felt that the wording of the Act was too vague.
2024-09-04 15:09:58