Feb 23 (Reuters) – Florida’s Republican-controlled
legislature has passed legislation that would ban children ages
16 and younger from social media platforms in a move that
supporters have said would protect young people from online
risks to their mental health.
The measure, which now goes to the desk of Republican
Governor Ron DeSantis, would require social media platforms to
terminate the accounts of anyone under 17 years old and use a
third-party verification system to screen out those who are
underage.
The measure was passed by Florida House of Representatives
in a vote of 108-7 on Thursday, just hours after the state
Senate gave final approval.
DeSantis, who has not indicated whether he will sign the
measure, last month expressed concerns about its potential
infringement on privacy rights. A spokesperson for his office
did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Supporters have said the legislation would protect children
from the harmful effects of social media on the well-being of
those who use such platforms excessively, including anxiety,
depression and other mental illnesses.
Critics have said the bill violates the U.S. Constitution’s
First Amendment protections for free speech and that parents,
not the government, should make decisions about the online
presence of their children.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook,
has opposed the legislation, saying it would limit parental
discretion and raise data privacy concerns because of the
personal information users would have to provide to be
age-verified. Meta has said it supports federal legislation for
online app stores to secure parental approval for downloads by
people younger than 16.
The bill does not name any specific social media platforms,
but states that its targets are social media sites that promote
“infinite scrolling,” display reaction metrics such as likes,
feature auto-play videos and have live-streaming and push
notifications. It would exempt websites and apps whose main
function is email, messaging or texting between a particular
sender and recipient.
Florida House Speaker Paul Renner said lawmakers crafted the
measure to address potential concerns about possible privacy
rights violations.
“We’ve addressed constitutional concerns by narrowly
focusing the scope of the bill on the addictive features, added
enhanced anonymity provisions to the age verification process to
protect user data, and incorporated meaningful penalties to hold
Big Tech accountable,” Renner, a Republican, posted on the
social media platform X on Thursday.
The bill would require social media companies to permanently
delete personal information collected from terminated accounts
and let parents bring civil lawsuits against those failing to do
so.
Utah in March 2023 became the first U.S. state to adopt laws
regulating children’s access to social media, followed by
others including Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio and Texas, according
to a legislative analysis prepared for the Florida bill. The
analysis said numerous other states were contemplating similar
regulations.
(Reporting by Gabriella Borter in Washington; Editing by Will
Dunham)
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