Starting Jan.15, social media operators must gain consent from parents before establishing accounts for children under 16, according to a news release from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
It's called the Parental Notification by Social Media Operators Act and it aims at allowing parents and guardians to have more control over their child's social media accounts, the release said. The Ohio General Assembly passed the law in July.
In addition to gaining consent, operators must also provide a list of content moderation features, the release said.
When consent is granted, operators must send written confirmation of the account to the parent or guardian, the release said. If the operator fails to do so, parents have 30 days to terminate the child's access to the account.
Companies that violate the law could face substantial fines. For the first 60 days of violations, courts can impose penalties of $1,000 dollars a day. That jumps to $5,000 a day after 60 days and $10,000 after 90 days, according to previous reporting from the Ohio Capital Journal.
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The law defines social media to include services with “public or semi-public profiles” where users “create or post content viewable by others,” according to the Ohio Protects website.
However, it doesn’t apply to companies that predominantly provide search or cloud storage.
