A North Texas Republican Representative has put forward a bill that would ban everyone under the age of 18 from using social media.
Jared Patterson, 39, of Frisco, filed a bill last Wednesday proposing social media firms make users verify their age with two forms of ID to gain access.
‘Social media is the pre-1964 cigarette,’ Patterson said in a statement accompanying the filing of the bill, in which he also alluded to a correlation between youth suicide and social media use.
‘Once thought to be perfectly safe for users, social media access to minors has led to remarkable rises in self-harm, suicide, and mental health issues,’ he said.
Patterson’s move came on the same day Texas governor Greg Abbott ordered a ban on the use of TikTok on state-issued devices, citing concerns over security and data harvesting by the Chinese government.
Meanwhile on Monday Alabama and Utah joined the rapidly growing list of states – including Illinois, Maryland and South Dakota – to have prohibited the use of the Chinese-owned video-sharing app on state equipment.
North Texas Republican Representative Jared Patterson (pictured), 39, has filed a bill that would prevent under-18s from accessing social media platforms
The bill came just as Texas joined a growing list of states that have banned TikTok on state-owned devices
Patterson supported the ban with reference to data collected by the Texas Department of State Health Services relating to suicide call volume.
His data suggests that between 2004 and 2018 there was a 48.4 percent increase in suicide calls among 13 to 19-year-olds, from 180.2 calls per 100,000 people in 2004 to 267.5 in 2018.
He attributes that rise to the increasing way in which adolescents have taken to social media in the last decade and a half.
A 2020 state report which cites the same data found that the rate of potential suicide calls among those aged between 20 and 29 increased by just 7.7 percent.
However, calls among 50 to 59-year-olds were lower across the board but still rose considerably, by 52.5 percent, from 37.8 calls to 57.6 per 100,000.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott released an order last Wednesday banning TikTok on all state-owned devices
A graph in a Texas state report shows how the number if suicide calls among three age groups changed between 2004 and 2018. Paterson attributes the rise among 13 to 19-year-olds to social media
Patterson’s bill, HB 896, stipulates that social media companies should be required to check photo ID in order to allow users to access social media sites
Patterson’s bill, HB 896, stipulates that social media companies should be required to check photo ID in order to allow users to access social media sites.
‘The Texas legislature must act this session to protect children because, thus far, the social media platforms have failed to do so. HB 896 is a solution to this crisis,’ he said.
Just last month Patterson launched another long shot bill that sought to dissolve the city of Austin because ‘elected officials have failed their city’ and ‘record high taxes and crime are pushing folks out of the city,’ the Dallas Morning News reported.
Earlier in the year Patterson was criticized by the National Coalition Against Censorship for his ongoing efforts to remove LGBTQ books from schools, saying he is trying to censor books by ‘intimidating and misleading every school district in his state.’
ByteDance is the Chinese-owned parent company of TikTok and employs members of the Chinese Communist Party
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem banned the app from government devices, saying she refuses to allow her state to play into the intelligence gathering practices of nations that ‘hate us’
The US intelligence community has long cited the Chinese-owned app as a potential national security risk. The Trump administration proposed banning the app but the effort was reversed by Biden.
ByteDance is the Chinese-owned parent company of TikTok. It employs members of the Chinese Communist Party who US officials worry could compel the company to share US consumer data with the CCP.
On Monday this week Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said: ‘Disturbingly, TikTok harvests vast amounts of data, much of which has no legitimate connection to the app’s supposed purpose of video sharing.
Use of TikTok involving state IT infrastructure thus creates an unacceptable vulnerability to Chinese infiltration operations.’
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey banned the use of TikTok on state-owned devices on Monday
A TikTok spokesperson responded to the recent spate of bans, telling Reuters that it is ‘disappointed that so many states are jumping on the bandwagon to enact policies based on unfounded, politically charged falsehoods.’
Greg Abbott conveyed a similar sentiment to Ivey last week: ‘TikTok harvests vast amounts of data from its users’ devices – including when, where, and how they conduct Internet activity – and offers this trove of potentially sensitive information to the Chinese government.’
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem also banned the app from government devices, saying she refuses to allow her state to play into the intelligence gathering practices of nations that ‘hate us.’
He directed Texas state agencies to immediately ban officers and employees from using or downloading TikTok on any government-issued device, which included cell phones, laptops and tablets.
