A WAVE OF STATE LAWS restricting children’s social media use started from an unexpected place — a right-leaning think tank that’s better known for circulating reports on fertility and the dangers of cohabitation.
- A 2022 white paper from the Institute for Family Studies proposed framing the issue of protecting teens from Big Tech as a matter of parental rights.
- Two years later, iterations of the social media recommendations from that report have been adopted in at least nine states and have turbocharged the national debate over protecting youth online.
- The topic was one of the few areas where Democrats ...