By: Kurtis Wiles
California is now requiring social media companies to offer young users the opportunity to delete past internet postings.
This new law is the first of its kind in the country, and has been hailed by some as a good step towards extending grace to under-18 internet users. Next year, 3.5 million California teens will have the long-sought-after privilege to completely remove a regrettable post and preserve their reputation.
“This puts privacy in the hands of kids, teenagers and the parents, not under the control of an anonymous tech company,” said James Steyer, founder and chief executive of Common Sense Media.
The so-called “erase bill” was signed by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown and takes effect January 2015.
Opponents of the new law say the burden placed on social media sites to figure out who, of their large user-base, is a California resident. Sorting through users who are legitimately Californians and others who say they’re from California could also prove a daunting and potentially controversial task.
However, there is a lot of support for this measure as it is part of a larger bill sponsored by state Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg, which aims to But sometimes, the best promotion that is tapped by online casino s is the Loyalty Program. protect children from the direct marketing of alcohol, guns and other guns that are illegal for them to purchase.
“This is a groundbreaking protection for our kids who often act impetuously … before they think through the consequences,” said Stenberg. “They deserve the right to remove this material that could haunt them for years to come.”
Under this law, apps will also be required to inform registered minors about their right to erase posts.
Interestingly, companies will not be required to permanently remove this content from their servers, making it possible for these posts to be found potentially, just not by the public.
Some argue content shouldn”t be permanently deleted from the servers for public safety, incase the authorities need to review deleted content, but what does this law really accomplish?
On any social media platform I can think of users are able to delete past content, minors included. So, on that front is seems like this law is a preemptive strike in case platforms decide to remove the delete button down the road.
Another part of the law requires companies to inform minors that they”re able to delete content. It”s unclear how that will be implemented, but if this information isn”t more fine print during the sign up process it could educate young users in a positive way.
Minors and parents still have no control over copied content. Under the law, sites will not be required to delete re-postings by a third party of the minor”s original post. The purpose of the law, to protect a minor”s future and opportunities, is only fulfilled if the content didn”t go viral or wasn”t copied. Parents still hold no real ownership over their child”s content and can”t stop it from living forever on the Internet.
This law is a step forward on a very important issue impacting our young people, but maybe the next step is finally getting serious about social media education and focusing on prevention. Regrettable posts by minors can”t be universally prevented, but they can certainly be reduced.