A bipartisan bill filed Jan. 14 in the S.C. House would impose strict new requirements on social media companies to protect their underage users, including explicit parental consent before a South Carolina minor can sign up for the service.
Among the bills co-sponsors: S.C. Rep. Brandon Guffey (R-York), who lost his 17-year-old son to suicide in 2022 after an online predator, posing as a woman on Instagram, coerced the youth into providing nude photos. The predator then demanded money to keep the photos private.
“I want us as a body to truly stand up,” Guffey told his colleagues from the well of the House on Jan. 30, one day after Hassanbunhussein Abolore Lawal was extradited from Nigeria to face federal charges in his son’s case. “I think we have the ability to show even our United States Congress that we need to do whatever we can to protect our kids online.”
Another co-sponsor, S.C. Rep. Beth Bernstein (D-Richland), told Statehouse Report that keeping kids safe is the kind of issue that brings lawmakers together across party lines.
“Most of the issues that affect South Carolinians are bipartisan, and protecting children is absolutely one of them,” Bernstein said. “An online predator is not going to distinguish between a Republican and a Democrat.”
What the bill would do
Introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Wes Climer (R-Beaufort) on the first day of the 2025 session, the S.C. Social Media Regulation Act (H. 3431) proposes creation of a set of legal guardrails around social media companies’ conduct with minors, including:
- Age verification: Platforms would be required to determine the age of users “with a level of certainty appropriate to the risks that arise from the information management practices of the social media company.” This echoes a bill passed last year that requires age verification for pornographic websites.
- Parental consent: S.C. residents under the age of 18 would not be allowed to possess social media accounts without the express consent of a parent or legal guardian. In addition, parents would have to be given tools allowing them to supervise their children’s use of the service.
- No adult contact: Platforms would have to enact and enforce prohibitions on adults contacting minors through the service.
- Limited advertising and data collection: Social media companies would only be allowed to use age and location information in determining which ads to serve to minors. Moreover, they could only collect and store minors’ data that is essential to the functioning of the product.
- Access restrictions: Platforms would be required to prevent minors from accessing content that advocates for violence, lawless action, self harm or destruction of property. Sexual content would also be prohibited.
- Teaching kids about the risks: The bill directs the S.C. Department of Education to develop model programs for educating students about the dangers of social media.
S.C. Education Association President Sherry East said her organization supports the legislation, but wants to make sure that social media platforms, rather than parents, are held accountable for making it work.
“We need parameters to protect our young people, but the devil’s in the details,” East said. “The responsibility has to be on the social media companies. If they can track my every movement and serve me an ad when I’m within a hundred feet of a store, they can figure it out.”
Research raises further concerns
In addition to concerns about predation — the Snap platform alone reportedly receives 10,000 sextortion complaints each month according to one state — advocates point to an emerging body of scientific research connecting teen mental health problems to regular social media use.
Experts say that these studies, while mixed, suggest strong linkages between heavy social media consumption and higher rates of depression, anxiety and sleep deprivation among younger users.
In response to that research, former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a 2023 health advisory calling on social media companies, government and parents to take immediate steps to protect underage users.
Among the advisory’s recommendations were several items contained in the proposed legislation, including enforcing age minimums, limiting data collection and creating social media literacy courses in schools.
“At a moment when we are experiencing a national youth mental health crisis, now is the time to act swiftly and decisively to protect children and adolescents from risk of harm,” Murthy said.
But opponents of further regulation, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF) Jason Kelley, note that many studies, including the EFF’s own 2024 survey, tell a different story about social media use by minors.
“In those [negative] stories, it is accepted as fact that the majority of young people’s experiences on social media platforms are harmful,” Kelley wrote. “But from these responses, it is clear that many, many young people also experience help, education, friendship, and a sense of belonging there — precisely because social media allows them to explore.”
Where things stand now
At a Jan. 29 House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on the bill, S.C. Rep. Travis Moore (R-Spartanburg) stressed the importance of working slowly and getting the details right — particularly after a similar bill passed the House last year, but failed to get a vote in the Senate.
“This subcommittee understands this is a very important . . . and sensitive topic to many different stakeholders,” said Moore, who chairs the subcommittee. “Our goal here — and our duty as legislators, honestly — is to thoroughly evaluate any piece of legislation, including this bill, to make sure we’re honoring the trust that our citizens have put into us to make very thoughtful and informed decisions and not just acting rashly.”
But at the same hearing, Palmetto State Teachers Association spokesman Patrick Kelly stressed the need for action.
“As both a parent and as an educator, I believe this generation of state leadership has a compelling government interest to combat the addictive and negative effects of unfiltered internet access for children in the same way that prior generations of leadership had to address the destructive impact of alcohol and tobacco,” Kelly told the committee.
The committee plans to take further testimony before voting to move the bill forward later in the session.
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