{"id":114406,"date":"2025-02-28T01:56:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T01:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/alabama\/house-committee-holds-public-hearing-for-youth-online-safety-bill\/"},"modified":"2025-02-28T01:56:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T01:56:26","slug":"house-committee-holds-public-hearing-for-youth-online-safety-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406","title":{"rendered":"House committee holds public hearing for youth online safety bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">An Alabama House committee Wednesday held a public hearing and carried over a bill that would create restrictions for minors attempting to download apps and enter into contractual agreements with app store providers. Parents would be notified about the download and could then approve or decline the contract between the child and the app provider.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/alison.legislature.state.al.us\/files\/pdf\/SearchableInstruments\/2025RS\/HB317-int.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">HB317<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, sponsored by Chris Sells, R-Greenville, would also require the app store provider to present certain information to parents, like the age rating of the app or how it shares information with third parties.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sells said that regulating the app store was the most succinct method for regulating how the internet reaches children. This bill is part of a package to address child safety online.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe\u2019ve done several bills about protecting our police officers\u2026 this is about protecting our children,\u201d said Sells. \u201cChildren, we put them in cars, we obey speed limits, we put seatbelts on them and put them in child\u2019s seats. We do different things to protect our children to come up with one goal, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing here today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">With teens on over 40 apps a week, each with different terms of services and access to personal data, it can be hard for guardians to keep up. Christy Horn, a resident of Madison, Alabama who works at the National Institute on Sexual Exploitation and is a proponent of the bill, said that the current system isn\u2019t designed to keep parents informed and these protections are essential.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cHB317 is a critical step toward ensuring transparency, accountability and parental authority over children\u2019s online experiences. For too long, app stores have operated as digital gatekeepers with little accountability, allowing children to download apps and agree to complex contracts with billion-dollar corporations without a parent even knowing,\u201d said Horn.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many opponents approached the committee to voice concerns about the constitutionality of the bill, citing First Amendment protections.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-6\" style=\"margin: 8px auto; text-align: center; display: block; clear: both;\">\n<div class=\"zox-post-ad-wrap\"><span class=\"zox-ad-label\">Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">John Read spoke on behalf of the Digital Childhood Alliance in support of the bill. He highlighted that the bill\u2019s true intent poses no constitutional issues since it is content-neutral and mainly addresses the contractual obligations between app providers and minors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cNo one is arguing the core of this bill, that children can\u2019t make contracts. That\u2019s longstanding contract law. When your kid hits that terms of service on an app, they\u2019re committed to a contract with legal obligations. That\u2019s what this bill undoes,\u201d said Reed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rep. Rick Rehm, R-Dothan, asked for specific clarification as to how this bill did not violate First Amendment rights as many opponents had claimed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cBecause this is contract-focused and every app that a minor tries to download, they get to download if the parent\u2019s consent and they don\u2019t get to download if the parent doesn\u2019t consent. The state\u2019s not making any content choices, any speech choices,\u201d said Read. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt\u2019s designed to avoid all the First Amendment issues that have arisen in all those cases about \u2018Is this pornographic? Is this inappropriate?\u2019 and I think it does it quite elegantly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Justin Hill spoke on behalf of NetChoice, a trade association that advocates for limited government regulation online, to say that it would be more beneficial to educate families about teen safety online.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rep. Tracy Estes, R-Winfield, noted that parents opting to educate themselves are already involved with their children\u2019s digital presence and not the parents that the bill hopes to assist.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIf educational efforts were enough, I could sit down with my children once, twice, maybe three times, and they\u2019d get it and we\u2019d be done. We know that\u2019s not how children think. That\u2019s why we need parental protections,\u201d said Estes.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-6\" style=\"margin: 8px auto; text-align: center; display: block; clear: both;\">\n<div class=\"zox-post-ad-wrap\"><span class=\"zox-ad-label\">Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Alabama House committee Wednesday held a public hearing and carried over a bill that would create restrictions for minors attempting to download apps and enter into contractual agreements with app store providers. Parents would be notified about the download and could then approve or decline the contract between the child and the app provider. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11763],"tags":[33526,50974,6795,13710,8372,10040,11734,594,50975,2485,50976,50977,5294,50978,417,1509],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-114406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alabama","tag-2025-legislative-session","tag-app-store-providers","tag-bill","tag-committee","tag-first-amendment","tag-hearing","tag-holds","tag-house","tag-john-read","tag-online","tag-online-safety","tag-parental-protections","tag-public","tag-rep-chris-sells","tag-safety","tag-youth"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>House committee holds public hearing for youth online safety bill - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"House committee holds public hearing for youth online safety bill - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An Alabama House committee Wednesday held a public hearing and carried over a bill that would create restrictions for minors attempting to download apps and enter into contractual agreements with app store providers. Parents would be notified about the download and could then approve or decline the contract between the child and the app provider. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-28T01:56:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_628967696_Editorial_Use_Only-1-scaled-e1733405219401.webp.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1438\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"House committee holds public hearing for youth online safety bill\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-28T01:56:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406\"},\"wordCount\":640,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_628967696_Editorial_Use_Only-1-scaled-e1733405219401.webp.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"2025 Legislative Session\",\"app store providers\",\"Bill\",\"Committee\",\"First Amendment\",\"Hearing\",\"Holds\",\"HOUSE\",\"John Read\",\"ONLINE\",\"online safety\",\"parental protections\",\"Public\",\"Rep. Chris Sells\",\"Safety\",\"Youth\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alabama\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406\",\"name\":\"House committee holds public hearing for youth online safety bill - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_628967696_Editorial_Use_Only-1-scaled-e1733405219401.webp.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-28T01:56:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_628967696_Editorial_Use_Only-1-scaled-e1733405219401.webp.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_628967696_Editorial_Use_Only-1-scaled-e1733405219401.webp.webp\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1438},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"House committee holds public hearing for youth online safety bill\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"House committee holds public hearing for youth online safety bill - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"House committee holds public hearing for youth online safety bill - Som2ny Network","og_description":"An Alabama House committee Wednesday held a public hearing and carried over a bill that would create restrictions for minors attempting to download apps and enter into contractual agreements with app store providers. Parents would be notified about the download and could then approve or decline the contract between the child and the app provider. [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-02-28T01:56:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1438,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_628967696_Editorial_Use_Only-1-scaled-e1733405219401.webp.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"House committee holds public hearing for youth online safety bill","datePublished":"2025-02-28T01:56:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406"},"wordCount":640,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_628967696_Editorial_Use_Only-1-scaled-e1733405219401.webp.webp","keywords":["2025 Legislative Session","app store providers","Bill","Committee","First Amendment","Hearing","Holds","HOUSE","John Read","ONLINE","online safety","parental protections","Public","Rep. Chris Sells","Safety","Youth"],"articleSection":["Alabama"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406","name":"House committee holds public hearing for youth online safety bill - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_628967696_Editorial_Use_Only-1-scaled-e1733405219401.webp.webp","datePublished":"2025-02-28T01:56:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_628967696_Editorial_Use_Only-1-scaled-e1733405219401.webp.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_628967696_Editorial_Use_Only-1-scaled-e1733405219401.webp.webp","width":2560,"height":1438},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=114406#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"House committee holds public hearing for youth online safety bill"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/71168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114406"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=114406"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=114406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}