Texans are rightly concerned with the enormous harms being done to their children on social media. However, due to an outdated federal law, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), states are handcuffed in what they can do to protect children online. What is COPPA, why does it limit Texas from protecting children online, and what can the 88th Legislature do about it?
Modern social media—and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato provides what is considered one of the most famous thought experiments. In it, people with a distorted sense of reality try to make sense of their world—but with no real reference, they remain confused—and afraid. And nearly 2,400 years after the allegory appeared in Plato’s “Republic,” are we...