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Libs of Tiktok reported on a Facebook dating group for LGBT youth as young as just eight years old. This group is based out of California and has a list of requirements to join the group. The first requirements are to post a picture of yourself and put your age. The banner for it has Disney characters with LGBTQ flags. Groups like this are breeding groups for groomers and Facebook refuses to shut them down.
There has already been confirmation that there are multiple middle aged men in the group. Some of which have arguably creepy profile pictures to begin with. There is no parental consent needed in order to join this group and even if there was this is not acceptable. All of the admin of the group should be immediately investigated as well as every adult that has entered the group. If Facebook won’t do anything to investigate it then law enforcement should.
This has been a growing problem with social media. There is no accountability with the online world continuing to grow, unless you’re a middle aged woman posting right wing Facebook memes then you will have the FBI at your doorstep. Social media companies aren’t required to have extensive age verification mechanisms or for some none at all. The larger problem at hand is that social media companies won’t self censor unless forced.
This has resulted in Florida taking a lead on the issue. Desantis signed a new bill into Florida law that many states should follow. He made it illegal for children under the age of 14 to have social media at all and gave the ability for 14 and 15 year olds to access social media with parental consent. This is a major win in protecting children from potential online abuse. Texas legislators should be following up on this next session with a similar bill.
As of now in Texas we passed the age verification for pornography sites bill, HB 1181, which was a massive victory. That bill is a fantastic bill that should be further extended to include not just pornography sites but social media sites that might have pornography like Instagram, Facebook, and X. That bill coupled with Texas following Florida’s lead on the social media ban for children would help extinguish most of the horrors with social media.
Texas should be leading on all family related issues. The number one issue focused on in Austin must be the family unit. We must take into account states like Florida and follow the good they do as well as lead in other categories. We have the opportunity to make Texas the number one state in the country for families and we will continue to push until all of our priorities are met.