(The Center Square) – Ohio is a little more than two weeks from a new social media parental notification law taking effect.
The new law, passed by the General Assembly and signed into law in July, gives parents oversight of their children’s use of social media apps, websites and other online services and products aimed at children.
It takes effect Jan. 15.
“This law aims to give parents more control over their children creating new social media accounts,” Attorney General Dave Yost said. “So just like any other time, if you feel like you’ve been wronged by a company, we take those complaints and work to resolve any issues – this is no different.”
Beginning Jan. 15, social media operators like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, along with any website that sells things or provides a service to children, must get parental consent before establishing accounts for children under the age of 16.
When consent is given, the operators must then send written confirmation of the account to the parent or legal guardian and provide a list of censoring or content modification features.
In cases in which operators don’t provide notification or a parent wishes to stop a child’s access, parents can contact the website operator, who then has 30 days to end the child’s access.
The new law does not require operators to notify parents of accounts created before Jan. 15.
As previously reported by The Center Square, behavioral and children’s advocacy groups around the state praised the passage of the law.
“This legislation champions youth mental health by combatting rising social media addiction and exposure to unsafe content,” said Sarah LaTourette, chief advocacy officer for the Ohio Children’s Alliance. “In the wake of new data linking popular social media apps to negative health outcomes, Ohio is already stepping up and responding to create safer spaces for kids on social media.”