Social Media

University of North Carolina System President Peter Hans plans to block Yik Yak, Fizz, Whisper and Sidechat from campus IT infrastructure. He likened them to drugs whose harmful effects are becoming more well understood.

On Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a ban on social media for kids under 16 and lawmakers introduced new legislation that would let 14- and 15-year-olds access social media with a parent’s consent. The ban would still apply to children 13 and under.

The bill would bar people under 16 from setting up accounts on most social media platforms. House Speaker Paul Renner and Gov. Ron DeSantis are collaborating to address the latter’s concerns, which include protecting parental rights.

During a recent class discussion in River Ridge High School’s New Teacher Academy, however, students suggested that the adult decision-makers have some misplaced priorities.

The legislators are wading into an ongoing public debate that involves constitutional rights, consumer protections, parental responsibility and quickly evolving technologies.

City officials have announced that they will join a California lawsuit against major social media companies over what Mayor Eric Adams is calling a “mental health crisis” facing young people.

A journalism teacher at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, Calif., crafted her own media-literacy curriculum with Ted Talks, documentaries, articles about TikTok’s algorithm and examples of AI-enhanced images.

Research shows a correlation between the Internet, social media and an increase among children for suicidal thoughts and other health-related concerns, experts say.

The lawmaker wants to change a key piece of federal law that shields Internet companies like X, Facebook and Snapchat from lawsuits over user posts, a protection considered the lifeblood of social media.

Senators on both sides of the aisle criticized the heads of large social media companies during a Washington, D.C., hearing on Wednesday for failing to adequately protect childrens' safety online.

Proposed legislation in New York City would compel the city Department of Education to distribute facts at the beginning of each school year about social media addiction and its potential health impacts.

As Georgia introduces new legislation to address cyberbullying and regulate teenage social media use, other states with comparative laws are facing staunch legal challenges related to privacy.

Mass layoffs at the Los Angeles Times are pulling focus back to legislation that would force companies, like Google and Meta, to pay for the news published on their platforms. The bill stalled last year amid stiff opposition.

A Fulton County agency approved Tuesday a $10.1 million tax break for a controversial data center expansion by the social media platform X that was already underway.

The goal of media literacy, sometimes called digital citizenship or information literacy, is to help students think critically about the news that is presented to them.

Faced with congressional scrutiny, litigation, and a push for state-level regulation, the social media giant Meta issued recommendations Tuesday for new federal standards to protect app-using minors.

Advocates for children’s online safety are hoping that Congress will enact federal legislation rather than allowing a piecemeal, state-by-state approach. They hope new rules would rein in tech platforms.

An organization representing the likes of Facebook, X and YouTube has filed a lawsuit over a new requirement that children under age 16 get their parent’s consent to open social media accounts.