Massachusetts Governor pushes for age verification on "Addictive" Social Media Platforms in address
The State of The Commonwealth is an address by the Massachusetts governor (Maura Healey) to both chambers of the state legislature and the public about the governor's plans for the state and highlighting key priorities. This usually happens annually. One of her key points was age verification on social media platforms,even with privacy concerns.
In her address she mentioned her concern about the effect of social media on people under 18,and might put age restrictions on social media in Massachusetts. Healy said, "Look, scrolling TikTok or Insta[-gram], it's fun! But there's a time and a place," she said, before warning that "these platforms, let's be serious, are built with addictive algorithms. They exploit our insecurities, especially in our young people… So I am proposing strict new requirements to protect kids and teens on social media. We will require parental consent and age verification on all of these platforms. We’re going to prevent social media companies from targeting kids for profit. ” This may mean that in Massachusetts, social media corporations will be forced to use age verification before a user signs up, which may even affect new users. This will most definitely affect teens and tweens as 95% of teens and tweens use social media, according to the National Institute of Health. And this school is mostly against the pushed opinions. with some others.
The Backlash
“No, all it does is lets terrible people online choose what age group they want to target,” said an anonymous student. “They just leave how it is,” said David B in 6th grade.
“Social media is so prominent now in our society and it is necessary for these [age verification] systems to be in place",said Mr. Clasby, a 8th grade TA. Cindy Harper,a writer and researcher for Reclaim The Net, an organization that advocates for online privacy and online rights, wrote on the website: “When politicians like Governor Healey talk about age checks and restrictions for kids on social media, they often forget something important. Kids have rights too, including the right to free speech.In the United States, the First Amendment is part of the Constitution. It protects people’s right to speak, read, learn, and share ideas without the government stopping them. These rights apply online and offline and apply to kids and teens as well as adults”.
Going Forward
The Governor will most likely support The MA H4229 bill(Introduced by Representative William F. MacGregor , a Democrat) that aims to protect people under 18 from "addictive feeds”.If the bill is passed,it will use age verification technologies on social media platforms and will prohibit notifications on people marked as under 18 from midnight to 6 a.m.But it's future is unknown as it is only committee and could lose support.
Why Cobalt mining is bad
By Walker Zakrzewski, Grayson Butler, Niam Jayanth
To realize why we want to change the name we have to see how the world gets cobalt. Most of the companies that buy the cobalt don't ask where it's from and simply don't care where it comes from. They just care that they get cobalt for a good price. Over 2,000 people die due to unsafe workplaces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and sadly some of them are children who get very little pay and some get paid none. About 40 '000 children are estimated to work in congolese cobalt mines. Even if you're pregnant you still have to work in the mines. Mothers are scared that their babies will be legless or armless because the fumes of cobalt give them respiratory illness and both physical and neurological problems. One of the ways workers carry cobalt and dirt is putting buckets on children's heads who can't carry the buckets normally and the children's skulls can not hold the buckets, so their skulls slip down, forcing the spine to go up into their brain, which either kills them or sadly tortures them until they eventually die. Cobalt mining also causes many major accidents like the Kapata tunnel collapse in which 63 miners were buried alive when the tunnel collapsed. The way cobalt miners get down to the tunnels is to go down into a tight hole only using footholds carved into the walls of the holes, with no safety equipment causing very unsafe working conditions. The people working are paid by the amount of ore they bring to the third party buyer. If the buyer doesn’t agree they are told to leave and effectively don’t get paid for their labor. The average lifespan for workers because of unsafe working environments is 20-30 years old, while the average human life span is 73, so cobalt miners live significantly less than others. Some of the other major mining companies are in Russia, Australia, Canada, Cuba, and the Philippines.
Sources
By Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab,Former Contributor. Dr Ewelina U Ochab is a Forbes contributor, lawyer, and author.
Sky News