Stephen Balkam, the founder and CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), expressed concern about the potential infringement on privacy that could result from age verification requirements for social media platforms. While age verification can help ensure children are not exposed to inappropriate content, Balkam highlighted the tradeoff between privacy and online safety.
Utah's Social Media Regulation Act, set to take effect on March 1, 2024, will require social media companies to verify the ages of adult users in Utah who wish to create accounts. Parents or guardians will also be required to provide consent for children under 18 to create accounts. The bill further mandates that parents or guardians maintain full access to their children's social media accounts and blocks minors' accounts from appearing in search results.
"An important, and currently underexplained, part of the law is the requirement that social media platforms must verify the age of all users," Balkam said. "Age assurance has the potential to increase online safety by allowing truly age-appropriate experiences, with enhanced protections for the youngest users. However, these are significant tradeoffs that must be considered when balancing invasiveness and effectiveness (or privacy and safety). In other words, how much individual privacy must be sacrificed in the name of online safety?"
Balkam emphasized the need for age verification requirements to be "thoughtfully crafted and clearly communicated." In an opinion piece for Deseret News, he urged state regulators to consider the findings of a white paper recently released by FOSI on how families view age verification requirements.
The white paper highlighted the complexity of assessing individuals' ages online and the concerns surrounding privacy infringement. It also noted that age restrictions could incentivize children, with their parents' agreement, to provide false dates of birth to bypass the restrictions. "Age assurance comes with a particular, fundamental trade-off: the more personal information collected from users, even in the name of safety, the greater the impact on their privacy," the paper stated.
While FOSI supports online safety policies, Balkam stressed the importance of balancing age verification measures that enhance safety with the protection of individuals' rights, including those of children and teenagers. FOSI supports many aspects of Utah Governor Spencer Cox's online safety campaign, such as parental education about social media platforms, responsible role modeling, and open discussions about the potential harms of social media.