Some of you out there won’t be surprised by this, but to be the know-it-all I claim to be I must confess that there are some things I just don’t understand. Let’s start with the recent ruling from U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit that says Georgia can enforce its new law requiring social media platforms to verify the age of account holders and restrict its use by minors.
The state law aims to prevent children under the age of 16 from having social media accounts without a parent or guardian’s permission. (Let’s read that last part again – “without a parent or guardian’s permission.”) The law also limits advertising on and the collecting information from minors’ social media accounts.
The suit had been brought by NetChoice, a trade association of online businesses like Amazon and Meta and eBay and Google, that says it is an advocate for free expression and free enterprise on the internet. NetChoice had sued Georgia’s Attorney General Chris Carr in 2025, claiming the law, entitled the Protecting Georgia’s Children on Social Media Act, chills the rights of all Georgians to engage in anonymous speech online, contrary to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Chill the rights of kids under the age of 16 from getting on social media without their parents’ approval or knowledge and engaging in anonymous speech online? Like cyberbullying or bomb threats? Oh, please.
With all due respect to kids under 16, what is wrong with getting parental or guardian approval? To the NetChoice lawyers, same question. Sadly, there are likely enough parents who want so badly to be their kid’s BFF, that they would probably say yes anyway. They are probably also the ones that would buy their child an AK-47 for the same reason.
And then there was the crash on Interstate 20 in DeKalb County when a Georgia State trooper spotted a car weaving through traffic at roughly 110 mph and without headlights. The driver fled a traffic stop attempt, lost control and caused a 10-vehicle crash that tragically killed a 7-month-old infant and the driver.
I held my nose and got on Reddit, (which happens to be a member of NetChoice, by the way), and read the comments of oh-so-cute anonymous appellations like “bunnysuitman” and “Single_Bar_1836” who seem to want to blame the GSP for the audacity of stopping a car with no headlights doing 110 mph while weaving in and out of traffic on a major interstate. I don’t understand their reasoning except they seem to not care much for the police.
I don’t know why the state of Tennessee was unable to execute death row inmate Christa Pike after two attempts. In 1995, Pike and an accomplice lured Colleen Slemmer, a fellow Job Corps trainee, to an isolated area at the University of Tennessee agricultural campus, tortured her and beat her to death because Pike thought Slemmer was trying to steal her boyfriend. Pike bashed Slemmer’s head in with a chunk of asphalt and then kept a piece of the skull as a souvenir.
Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital meant to kill her. She ended up in the hospital and was later discharged and sent to the women’s prison in Nashville. Not sure what happens next.
Okay, so what do I know? I know the Protecting Georgia’s Children on Social Media Act is a positive development. Children under the age of 16 have no business being on social media anonymously. They are not mature enough at that point. I know the lawsuit brought by NetChoice was ill-conceived and ill-advised. The association and their lawyers ought to be ashamed of themselves. Why don’t they spend their time helping us from being hacked by bad people?
I know the Georgia State Patrol did the right thing in trying to stop that maniac on Interstate 20 before he killed someone else. As for “bunnysuitman” and “Single_Bar_1836”, they are proof-positive why not letting anonymous pubescents on social media is a good thing. Reading their post-pubescent comments made me wish the law had been passed a decade earlier.
I know that in all the hue-and-cry over the botched execution of Crista Pike, she has come across looking like the victim and we want to forget it was really Colleen Slemmer who was the victim. She and her family. They deserved better.
I know that some of you will agree with me and some of you won’t. And I know your comments won’t be anonymous. Thank you.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139.
