INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A bill has been introduced in the Statehouse that would mandate parental permission for kids under 16 years of age to access social media.

State Sen. Mike Bohacek, a Republican who authored that bill, told News 8 on Thursday that he introduced that piece of legislation because it protects minors from the devastating psychological impacts of social media, primarily because he says it can help prevent youth suicide.

“We’ve been seeing the primary cause for deaths in young adults under the age of 16 is sadly suicide,” Bohacek said. “And when you look at a lot of the data much of it correlates with the real increase of social media and the amount of times spent on the screens.”

If the bill passes and is signed into law by the governor, social media companies will have to get verifiable parental or guardian consent for those under 16, or pay a fine of $250,000 for each violation.

“The bill is at the early stages,” Bohacek said. “We had a hearing yesterday. There’s going to be some amendments to clean up, some of the language to make sure it’s very specific, and to make sure we’re working within the right pieces of social media.”

The bill pits safety of minors against free speech.

Chris Daley, the executive director of ACLU of Indiana, said, “Under our state and federal constitution, we have the first amendment rights both to speak and consume speech. Social media platforms are one way we do that here in modern time, and the Courts continue to say that minors have the right both to use platforms to speak and consume speech.”

There are laws that protect minors from sexually explicit materials online, and other states, including Florida and Tennessee, have also enacted age-based social media bans like what is being proposed in Indiana. However, those bans are being challenged in court.

Jeffrey McCall is a communications professor at DePauw University. He teaches First Amendment rights to his students, and he believes there needs to be guardrails when it comes to social media. “These social media platforms have a lot of influence on our nation. It’s one thing when they are influencing fully functioning adults, but it’s another thing when they’re influencing young minds that are not in the best position to make rational decisions.”

Bohacek said he’s confident it will pass. “Will we capture 100% compliance? Of course not. No law does that, but we’ve got to start.”

If the bill passes and is signed by the governor, it would go into effect in July.