SECTION 1.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) The social implications of technological development are pervasive, and the reach and influence of digital media platforms will continue to expand.
(2) Nearly two-thirds of American adults use social networking Internet Web sites, and social media usage is ubiquitous among the youngest adults, with over 90 percent of young adults using social media.
(3) Two out of every three adults say fabricated news stories cause a great deal of confusion about the basic facts of current issues and events.
(4) A recent Stanford University study showed that 82 percent of middle school pupils struggled to distinguish advertisements from news stories.
(5) During the final, critical months of the 2016 presidential campaign, 20 top-performing false election stories from hoax Internet Web sites and hyperpartisan blogs generated 8,711,000 shares, reactions, and comments on social media; where, within the same time period, the 20 best-performing election stories from 19 major news Internet Web sites generated a total of 7,367,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook.
(6) It is necessary to confront questions about the moral obligations and ethical standards regarding what appears on social media networks and digital platforms.
(7) Access to media literacy education for all pupils is a challenge, especially for underrepresented and economically disadvantaged communities.
(b) It is therefore the intent of the Legislature to ensure that young adults are prepared with media literacy skills necessary to safely, responsibly, and critically consume and use social media and other forms of media.