by Ty Tagami | Aug 27, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — A generation of children are reaping what the technology industry sowed when it merged smartphones with social media, and the results have spurred calls for regulation.
That is what motivated state senators on Wednesday to hold the first of a series of hearings about the impact of social media and artificial intelligence on children and what to do about it.
The bipartisan committee was authorized by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Republican running for governor. He backed a new law that sought to limit social media companies’ access to children, but it is tied up in court.
So children remain targets for social media platforms and application designers, said several experts and lawmakers who spoke at the hearing at the Capitol.
The committee is jointly helmed by a Democrat and a Republican. The Democratic co-chair, Sen. Sally Harrell, D-Atlanta, opened the meeting with an anecdote about raising her own kids as “guinea pigs” in the new technology environment, and how they had become glued to their devices.
It disrupted family dinners and caused them to lose interest in going outdoors and reading books, she said. But the impact she saw was comparatively minor: three people testified Wednesday that their children committed suicide because of social media.
Sharon Winkler said her son left a note explaining why he had taken his own life: he had gone to an online platform for solace after a breakup with his girlfriend but was instead met with bullying.
“We have to hold these technology companies accountable,” Winkler said.
The question is how.
Georgia’s General Assembly has already tried. The Protecting Georgia’s Children on Social Media Act sailed into law with broad bipartisan support last year. It was a top priority for Jones, but tech companies sued and have stopped the measure for now.
A federal judge for the Northern District of Georgia ruled in June that the industry-backed plaintiff in the case was likely to prevail on claims that the law violates the First Amendment’s speech protections.
The plaintiff, a group called NetChoice, represents a who’s who of social media companies, including Instagram, YouTube and X. The group contended the law went too far by requiring everyone to prove their age and identity to access their platforms, forcing adults to turn over personal information.
The law required companies to “make commercially reasonable efforts” verify users are at least 16 — or obtain parent consent. It also regulated advertising to children.
Experts who testified Wednesday said rulings by other courts suggest a path forward, with several saying states have the authority to require companies to set privacy defaults at the strictest level rather than making them wide open from the start. Parents generally are too busy or lack the knowhow to fiddle with such settings, they said.
Winkler was among many who testified that tech companies face no significant regulatory limits on application and platform designs that addict children, even toddlers. The lawmakers were given copies of the 2024 book, “The Anxious Generation,” by psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who dissects such designs and the resulting impact.
The committee will meet several more times through the rest of this year before formally recommending new legislation. Harrell said the next meeting, on Sept. 17, will offer a detailed look at age-verification laws and explore regulatory approaches to “manipulative” algorithms.
Her co-chair, Sen. Shawn Still, R-Johns Creek, said the issue was non-partisan, which makes some kind of legislation likely.
“It’s a societal issue,” he said, “and we’ve got to solve this together.”
by Dave Williams | Aug 27, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia delegation on a trade mission to South America this week is working on prospective deals with three companies, Gov. Brian Kemp told Capitol Beat Wednesday in an exclusive interview from Brazil.
“This trip has exceeded my expectations,” Kemp said from São Paulo, where he has spent the first part of the week before heading to Argentina on Thursday. “The meetings we’ve had have been high quality.”
Brazil is one of Georgia’s major trading partners, accounting for $748 million in exports last year. The Peach State’s business ties to Argentina are less extensive, with $120 million in exports in 2024.
“The U.S. has not paid enough attention to South America,” Kemp said. “There’s real opportunities here we need to take advantage of. … The Chinese are in Brazil. We need to make our presence known.”
Kemp said two of the three prospective deals with Brazilian companies the Georgia delegation is working on would be located in rural Georgia. Throughout his two terms as governor, he has made rural economic development a major priority.
More recently, the state Department of Agriculture has been looking to help Georgia industries devastated by Hurricane Helene – including timber, pecans, and poultry – recover from the damage the storm inflicted. Another economic blow fell just last week when International Paper announced plans to close two paper mills in the Savannah area, putting 1,100 employees out of work.
“We’re looking to find new markets for commodities that have been significantly hit,” said Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tyler Harper, who is on the trip with the governor.
This week’s trip is coming amid a backdrop of huge tariffs President Donald Trump has imposed on countries around the world. Among the highest are the 50% tariffs the president has slapped on Brazil.
But Kemp said one of the companies the Georgia delegation met with has been able to convince Trump to reduce the 50% tariff on that company to 10%.
“The White House is talking to and working with these companies,” he said. “Hopefully, there will be stabilization at some point.”
Kemp said members of the delegation will look to land more trade opportunities with businesses in Argentina when the group travels to Buenos Aires. Argentinian President Javier Milei has transformed that nation’s economy since taking office in December 2023, reducing inflation and growing the economy.
“There’s something good going on in Argentina,” Kemp said. “With what the new administration is doing, we want to go and learn more about that.”
After visiting Argentina, the Georgia delegation will return to Atlanta on Saturday.
by Dave Williams | Aug 27, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – An Augusta man has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to using a U.S. Postal Service key to steal mail as part of a bank fraud scheme.
Earl Demetrius Overton, 32, was charged with bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and illegal possession of a firearm.
According to court documents, Overton used master keys stolen from postal deposit boxes to steal mail, including business checks, from collection boxes in the Augusta area. He then altered the checks, deposited them into bank accounts, and withdrew more than $400,000 before the banks realized the checks were fraudulent.
Overton, a felon, was also caught with a firearm and loaded 15-round magazine, along with stolen bank checks, cash, financial documents, and debit cards.
“There were hundreds of citizens of this district who were victimized by the defendant’s conduct,” Margaret E. Heap, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, said Wednesday. “With the collaborative efforts of our law enforcement partners, fraudsters who use the mail to steal will be brought to justice.”
“This sentence serves as a reminder that the FBI will not tolerate criminal conduct, particularly when it involves someone in a position of trust defrauding individuals and institutions using stolen government property,” added Paul Brown, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta office.
Besides the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge J. Randall Hall also ordered Overton to pay a $2,000 fine, $300 in special assessments, and to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the FBI, and the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
by Dave Williams | Aug 27, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Hyundai Motor Group, which opened a huge electric vehicle manufacturing plant west of Savannah last March, is upping its investment in the United States.
The Korea-based automaker announced plans Tuesday to invest $5 billion through 2028 in addition to the $21 billion the company already has committed to U.S. operations, reinforcing its long-term commitment to job creation and growth.
While Tuesday’s announcement did not specify how much of the additional investment will go to the Hyundai Metaplant in Bryan County, the $5 billion allocation is expected to create around 25,000 new jobs.
Highlights of the investment include a new steel mill in Louisiana and construction of a state-of-the-art robotics facility with an annual capacity of 30,000 units. Hyundai also plans to expand its U.S. auto production capacity to meet the growing demands of American consumers with greater speed and efficiency, according to a company news release.
The Metaplant broke ground in the fall of 2022, an initial investment of $5.5 billion that was later increased to nearly $7.6 billion with the addition of adding 400 jobs on top of the 8,100 originally planned. It remains the largest economic development project in Georgia history.
by Ty Tagami | Aug 27, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — When Georgia lawmakers asked what they could do to make the lives of educators a little easier, they got a predictable response: stop telling us what to do, especially if you will not pay for it.
The first hearing Tuesday of a House study committee on reducing mandates for public school administrators revealed concerns about an old law that mandates high-stakes testing, an even older state funding formula that has not kept up with costs, and two new laws.
The Early Literacy Act passed two years ago is an unfunded mandate that has forced school districts to cut back in key areas to pay for teacher retraining and new curriculum, said Mack Bullard, the superintendent in Twiggs County.
Technology does not get upgraded, he said. Fine arts, clubs and sports that keep students connected to school get cut. Safety improvements and facility repairs get skipped. And teachers do not get paid a competitive salary, leading to attrition.
“Every dollar we redirect to cover an unfunded mandate is a dollar that we take away from another essential service,” Bullard told the panel, which convened in Warner Robins for a livestreamed meeting.
There were also complaints about Georgia’s Quality Basic Education funding formula from the 1980s. It pays an average $18.75 per day for substitute teachers in Houston County, said Chris Brown, the deputy superintendent there. The $17,452 per year for secretaries does not cover their health insurance, which exceeds $22,000 annually, let alone their pay, he added.
Brown also pointed to the 2024 law giving students a $6,500 annual voucher if they leave a public school to attend a private one.
Those private schools do not have to face the same accountability measures as public schools, Brown said.
Rep. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, leads the committee. He said the concerns deserve further discussion. He said the next hearing will be Sept. 29.
