A fast-tracked bill authored by Assemblyman Herb Conaway (D-Delran) that would require minors to obtain parental approval before joining social media platforms has come under fire from a variety of advocacy groups – and it now may also become an issue in Conaway’s campaign for Congress.
Assemblywoman Carol Murphy (D-Mount Laurel), who is Conaway’s lone declared opponent in the Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 3rd congressional district, said this morning that she opposes the bill, citing its potential effects on vulnerable populations like LGBT kids and disabled people.
“As a strong advocate of addressing mental health for children and young adults, I appreciate ideas to address these challenges, but legislation requiring age verification for anyone using social media in New Jersey is quite flawed,” Murphy said. “This legislation’s concept of parental consent assumes that the home is always safe… [But] we have LGBTQ+ youth who may not have supportive parents who would potentially have access restricted to mental health support and a community of their peers.”
Murphy’s reasoning echoes that of groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, and Garden State Equality, who signed onto a letter urging the legislature to reject the bill. Murphy also noted that if the bill passed, it could substantially expand social media companies’ abilities to gather users’ personal data.
“The far-reaching impacts of this legislation would force residents to turn over private data, which is concerning as we already face challenges to guard against identity theft and cybersecurity,” she said.
Conaway, the chairman of the Assembly Health Committee, did not respond to a request for comment from the New Jersey Globe, but has said in previous interviews that he drafted the bill as a response to social media’s dangerous impacts on children’s mental health and wellbeing.
“The provider of that [social media] service can know rightly who you are before you’re allowed to access that service through that platform,” Conaway told the New Jersey Monitor last month. “It’s the very least, in my opinion, we can do for our children.”
The divide over the bill is seemingly the first concrete policy difference that has come up in the congressional primary contest between Conaway and Murphy, who have been pitted against one another after six years as Assembly running mates. In the legislature, both have typically voted as mainstream liberal Democrats, and their congressional campaigns have occupied similar lanes.
In fact, a review of Murphy’s and Conaway’s voting records from this legislative session did not find a single bill on which the two legislators publicly disagreed. That’s not hugely surprising, given that most bills that come up for a vote in the first place already have unanimous or near-unanimous support from the Democratic caucus; dissents within the caucus will often lead to a bill getting pulled from consideration before a vote is taken.
Something similar may end up happening to Conaway’s bill. The legislature could vote to pass it on Monday, before the lame duck session ends – but given the opposition from several prominent organizations and from Murphy, a member of Assembly Democratic leadership, that’s far from a guarantee.