Florida gets closer to banning social media for kids under 16
TALAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida is about to pass one of the most restrictive bans on social media use by minors after the Senate passed a bill Thursday that would keep children under 16 from popular platforms regardless of parental consent.
The measure now heads back to the State House, where the Speaker has made the issue his top priority during the legislative session that ends March 8. Still, critics have pointed to similar efforts in other states that have been blocked by courts.
The bill targets any social media site that tracks user activity, allows children to upload material and interact with others, and uses addictive features designed to cause excessive or compulsive use. Advocates point to rising suicide rates among children, cyberbullying and predators using social media to prey on children.
“We are talking about companies that are using addictive properties to massively manipulate and harm our children,” said the bill’s sponsor, Republican Senator Erin Grall.
Other states have considered similar legislation, but most have not proposed a total ban. In Arkansas, a federal judge in August blocked enforcement of a law that required parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts.
Proponents in Florida hope that if the bill becomes law, it will withstand legal challenges because it would ban social media formats based on addictive features such as alert notifications and autoplay videos, rather than the content on their sites.
But opponents say it blatantly violates the First Amendment and that it should be left to parents, not the government, to monitor children’s use of social media.
“This isn’t 1850. While parents are showing up at school board meetings to ban books, their kids are on their iPads watching really bad things,” said Democratic Senator Jason Pizzo.
He sarcastically said lawmakers have other options if they want to raise other people’s children.
“Let’s have a bill that encourages hanging out with your kids, cooking dinner, sitting at the table together, making eye contact, calling grandma every now and then to see if she’s okay.” he said.
The Senate passed the bill on a 23-14 vote, with a mix of Democrats and Republicans on both sides of the issue. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has expressed some skepticism about the legislation as currently drafted.
DeSantis said he understood the platforms could be harmful to teens, but parents should play a role in monitoring use.
“We can’t say 100% of applications are bad because that’s not the case,” DeSantis said at a news conference in the Orlando area. “I don’t think we’ve gotten there, but I hope we can get there in a way that addresses parents’ concerns.”
Some parents also have mixed feelings.
Angela Perry, a mother from central Florida, said she understands the rationale behind the bill and that she and her husband didn’t allow their daughter onto major platforms until she was 15. But she believes it should be up to each parent to This decision is based on the maturity of their children.
“What happened to parental rights?” Perry said. “You are already selecting books for my child to read at school. That’s fine to a certain extent. But now you are also entering their private lives. It becomes intrusive.”
The Florida bill would require social media companies to close any accounts they believe are being used by minors and cancel accounts at the request of a minor or parents. All information related to the account must be deleted.
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Associated Press writer Mike Schneider in Orlando contributed to this report.