Sergeant Jillian Yeager of the West Virginia State Police Children’s Crimes Unit testified Tuesday that more cyber information about children is being misused online. (Photo provided)
CHARLESTON — West Virginia lawmakers are considering legislation aimed at protecting children from online exploitation, including restricting access to social media platforms.
The state Senate Education Committee and House Technology and Infrastructure Committee on Tuesday focused on educating children about their access to social media and websites with obscene content, and how to protect them from sexual exploitation through social media. recommended the passage of a bill that
The House Technology Committee on Tuesday afternoon recommended House Bill 5226, the Children’s Social Media Protection Act, and sent the bill to the House Judiciary Committee.
Starting July 1, 2025, the bill would prohibit social media platforms from allowing children to use their social media accounts without the explicit permission of the child’s parent or guardian. Social media companies will be required to include age verification methods on their sites and apps. .
The bill would prohibit directly messaging minors via social media platforms unless they are already linked by subscribing to each other’s accounts. Hide accounts of minors from search results. Don’t advertise to minors or target recommended groups or users. Social media companies will be required to provide passwords for minors’ accounts to parents upon request.
HB 5226 would also create a 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. time limit on the use of platforms and apps by minors, and the bill would give enforcement powers to the Attorney General’s Office. Become. This could lead to lawsuits by parents and guardians suing social media providers.
Representative Wayne Clark (R-Jefferson) is the lead sponsor of HB 5226. He said the bill is related to a bill he proposed in 2022. House Bill 4074, aka: “Meghan’s Law” It is named after Del Clark’s 15-year-old daughter, Megan Clark. The bill would require educators to take training every three years to identify the signs of eating disorders and self-harm, and would also provide similar training and education to middle school and high school students. It is mandatory to do so.
Clark said her research into Meghan’s Law led her to further research into the dangers of social media to child development and the types of information children have access to.
“We know that our children rely heavily on these social media accounts to learn and function. It’s hard to have conversations with them.” Mr. Clark said. “We’re so familiar with cell phones, but our kids have grown up with cell phones too. That’s all they’re doing. My hope is that they’re inherently harmful to children. “It’s about giving parents some help so they don’t do things that could potentially cause harm.”
The bill is similar to laws in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Utah, which will become the first state to enact such legislation in 2023. The Arkansas law is being challenged in federal court, but Utah’s law has not yet been implemented. House Speaker Pro Tempore Paul Espinosa (R-Jefferson) said lawmakers should wait and see what happens with the federal lawsuit.
“My concern at this point is that it’s hard to support a bill like this that could have far-reaching implications.” Espinosa said. “I think a smarter approach would be to let some of the lawsuits settle, etc. Without the insights that come from some of those results, you end up making mistakes that you could have avoided if you benefited from those results.” I just worry that it might be possible.”
People also wonder why the bill appears to target some social media platforms, such as Facebook and TikTok, rather than platforms like YouTube, which serve content and ads based on algorithms and user recommendations. Some people exhibited
“Social media platforms seem to exclude a lot of places where addictive behavior and bullying on the internet is very likely to occur.” said House Minority Leader Kayla Young, D-Kanawha.
The bill has similar goals as another bill in the House. The House Judiciary Committee recommended passage of House Bill 4867 on Monday, according to the Associated Press. The bill would require companies that offer products or services that could be considered harmful to children, such as pornography, to require age verification on their websites.
The Senate Education Committee on Tuesday morning recommended that the committee pass a replacement version of Senate Bill 466, sending the bill to the Senate Finance Committee. This bill requires the development of safety access technology (SWAT) education programs in elementary and secondary schools.
SB 466 to instruct schools about the risks, legal and criminal consequences of sharing sexually suggestive or sexually explicit material, and other long-term and unintended consequences of sharing material is required.
The SWAT program addresses the potential links between the sharing of sexually suggestive or sexually explicit materials and the sharing of those materials by others, bullying, cyberbullying, extortion, and human trafficking. It is intended to be shown to students.
The bill would require the State Board of Education to approve age-appropriate instruction for grades 3 through 12 and require each county to adopt a policy for annual instruction in the SWAT program. The bill also allows parents/guardians to opt their children out of the program.
West Virginia State Police Sergeant Jillian Yeager is one of 12 members of the state police’s Crimes Against Children Unit. Yeager said the number of cybertips reported to law enforcement and other agencies in West Virginia has skyrocketed since 2020, from 1,300 in 2020 to 3,100 in 2023.
“As you can see, the amount of cyber information we receive is steadily increasing, but we don’t have the personnel to deal with it all.” Yeager said.
Jaeger explained that predators often prey on children by pretending to be teenagers, blackmailing them into offering money to get them comfortable sharing explicit images of themselves, or He explained that they would later force them to participate in human trafficking.
“The perpetrators engage in relationships with children online, sometimes pretending to be teenagers themselves, establishing relationships with the children and getting the children to send them nude photos.” Yeager said. “They then blackmail the child and say, ‘I’m going to send this image that you’ve already sent me to everyone in your friend group and to your parents, but only if you a) send me money; b) Unless they send me more sexually explicit material. This has led to cases of suicide among children under 13.
“Imagine dealing with that as an adolescent who doesn’t have the foresight to solve the problem at that point. So that’s a serious problem that we’re dealing with today.” Yeager continued.
Also Tuesday, the House Technology Committee recommended passing a strike-and-insert amendment to House Bill 5338, related to the Consumer Data Protection Act, and then sent the bill to the House Finance Committee for review.
The Consumer Data Protection Act would place limits on businesses and other entities that collect or sell personal information and establish regulations for accessing, correcting, deleting, and moving data around digital data. The bill would establish a right to opt out of personal data collection.
This bill would apply to businesses within a state that control the data of at least 100,000 consumers or derive more than 50% of their revenue from the sale or processing of the personal data of at least 25,000 consumers. Applies to individuals and companies conducting business. This bill would authorize the Attorney General’s Office to enforce this law and create a fund to assist the Attorney General’s Office in its enforcement efforts.
