A measure, titled “Social Media Use by Minors,” is moving forward this year and it would force teens to give up access to their personal messages on social media.
The bill sponsor is Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Escambia. Her proposal, which she introduced on Wednesday to an Industries & Professional Activities Subcommittee, adds to last year’s law (HB 3), that prohibits children under the age of 14 from having certain social media accounts.
The law, which has faced several legal challenges, allows 14- and 15-year-olds to be on social media but with parental consent.
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Rep. Salzman wants to take parental oversight a step further.
“My reason for doing this bill is to protect kids in cases of trafficking or other instances where they’re being groomed on social media,” Salzman said on Wednesday.
Salzman’s bill (HB 743) requires social media companies to give parents of 15- and 16-year-olds, access to their child’s social media messages or “DMs.”
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On Wednesday, Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, spoke in favor of the bill. She gave a few examples of apps she’s seen minors become victims of online harassment.
“I understand the intention of parental access and the concerns of disappearing messages,” said Eskamani.
Rep. Eskamani thinks parents should be aware of apps like Snapchat, where she says messages are designed to disappear after a certain time.
“I know the bill doesn’t list the bills what companies will be impacted but I can assume the companies that have type of tools is typically Snapchat, and even Instagram has the feature for it,” she added.
If passed, social media companies will have to “terminate accounts of users under 14” and disable features that delete messages after viewing them so parents can always have access and in certain cases, law enforcement, if a criminal investigation requires it.
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