北卡罗来纳州众议院提出一项新法案HB 301，旨在禁止14岁以下儿童使用社交媒体，并对某些网站进行年龄验证。该法案类似于澳大利亚针对16岁以下儿童的社交媒体禁令，禁止14岁以下儿童在满足特定标准的社交平台（如拥有10%的16岁以下日活跃用户和“令人上瘾”的功能，如无限滚动）上创建账户。14至15岁的儿童需要父母的许可才能创建账户。此外，HB 301还要求在浏览含有大量（超过三分之一）被认为“对未成年人有害”内容的网站时进行“匿名”或标准年龄验证。

🚫 **社交媒体禁令：** HB 301法案禁止14岁以下儿童在具有“令人上瘾”功能的社交平台上创建账户，类似于澳大利亚的相关禁令。

🔞 **年龄验证要求：** 法案要求对含有大量“对未成年人有害”内容的网站进行年龄验证，但与传统的年龄验证法不同，该法案要求访问者年满16岁，而非18岁。

⚖️ **法律依据：** “对未成年人有害”一词源于最高法院的Ginsberg v. New York案，该案裁定，即使内容不属于淫秽（受第一修正案保护），也可能“对未成年人有害”。

🛡️ **年龄验证的局限性：** 之前的研究表明，年龄验证法律可能无法有效阻止未成年人访问不合规的网站，他们可以通过VPN等方式绕过这些限制。

A new bill filed in the North Carolina House of Representatives aims to ban children under 14 from social media and age-verify some sites — but not like other age-verification laws.

HB 301, called the Social Media Protections for Minors Act, was introduced last Wednesday and passed its first reading, according to North Carolina station WFMY News 2. It'll now go to a committee for further review.

Similar to Australia's social media ban for children under 16, this bill would prohibit anyone under 14 from creating an account on social platforms that meet certain criteria (like having 10 percent daily active users under 16 and "addictive" features like infinite scrolling). Children aged 14 to 15 would need parents' permission to make an account, though it doesn't detail how this consent would be handled.

Additionally, HB 301 calls for "anonymous" or standard age verification when viewing a site with a substantial portion (over a third) of content deemed "harmful to minors." The phrase "harmful to minors" harkens back to a Supreme Court case, Ginsberg v. New York, which concluded that content that isn't obscene (thus protected by the First Amendment) can still be "harmful to minors."

Typically, in age-verification laws, this means explicit content. This part is in line with other such laws, which require some form of age verification (such as a digital ID or facial scan) in order to visit porn sites.

Unlike other age-verification laws that have passed in the U.S. — including North Carolina's own age-verification law — this one requires these site visitors to be 16 years or older, not 18, though. In North Carolina, the age of consent is 16.

In January, the Supreme Court heard about age-verification laws in the case Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, and their ruling will likely come out this summer. Findings from a recent study on age verification laws suggest that these laws don't work at their proposed aim to keep minors away from explicit websites. This is because they can access websites that don't comply with the laws, or work around them with a VPN.