Florida’s newest law cracks down on minors’ exposure to social media, in a move lawmakers say further elevates parental rights in the state and protects children from addiction, predators, and other dangers waiting in the digital realm.
The law goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2025, and will require social media platforms to terminate all accounts known to be held by minors under 14 years of age or those who are 14 or 15 but don’t have parental consent, as well as all personal information held by the company.
There will be a 90-day window in which minors can dispute their accounts’ termination, but the platform will have five business days to terminate the account if requested by the minor and 10 business days to do so if the termination request is made by a parent or guardian.
Social media platforms could face legal action under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, according to the new law, which includes facing civil penalties of up to $50,000 per violation.
Mr. DeSantis said parents and prosecutors understand that there are dangers out in the world and that if children are out on their own and unsupervised, they could be targeted by predators. But the online world has brought those dangers into the home, he said.
“You can have a kid in the house safe, seemingly, and then you have predators that can get right in there, into your own home,” he said.
The governor signed the legislation in the presence of state Attorney General Ashley Moody, state House Speaker Paul Renner, Education Commissioner Manny Díaz Jr., and several lawmakers. Speaking as parents, they identified those dangers as being child predators, as well as mental and emotional harms that range from addiction to depression and hopelessness.
“We know from law enforcement, we know from our prosecutors that social media is the primary platform in which children are trafficked, in which pedophiles ... pretending to be children come after our children, and that more crimes against children happen on these platforms than any other venue. We know that,” Mr. Renner said.
“We also know that social media platforms have caused a devastating effect on the mental well-being of our children. We know that three hours a day or more, you’re twice as likely to suffer depression. We know that, when you look at high school women, that 57 percent had persistent hopelessness or loneliness over the last year, 41 percent had mental health issues over the last 30 days, and almost a third—30 percent—contemplated suicide over the last year. When you look at numbers like that, we cannot stand on the sidelines.”
Duval County Schools representative April Carney spoke about personal struggles with the harms of social media while raising two teen daughters, and she said that the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s Internet Crimes Against Children Division showed her how easily a 41-year-old man could use artificial intelligence to transform into the appearance of a 15-year-old girl.
She said that a predator could start a conversation online with a child and the child would think he or she is speaking with another 15-year-old.
Not Attacking Free Speech
Republican state Rep. Tyler Sirois, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, emphasized that the passing of this bill was a bipartisan victory, saying that members of the state Legislature who normally don’t even speak to each other were able to come together on it.“The message that we are sending to Big Tech is clear,” he said. “In Florida, you are no longer going to build your business on the backs of our children. We are going to protect our kids from this digital fentanyl.”
Mr. Sirois also said he expects social media companies to say they are “bastions of free speech” and that they are today’s town square. But he rejected that claim, saying that “for our children, these companies are no town square.”
“They are a dark alley. They are a dark alley in which our children are exposed to dangers that parents spend their entire lives having nightmares about,” he said. “Today, we’re taking steps to protect our children from the dark alley that social media represents. It’s an important fight.”
Mr. Renner also emphasized that the bill doesn’t make any attempt to violate the First Amendment by addressing “good speech or bad speech,” but rather, it addresses addictive features such as infinite scrolling and dopamine-triggering “likes” and reactions from others.
The bill applies to social media companies that utilize personalized algorithms to curate content and encourage longer periods of use and that nudge minor users “in a particular direction.” It also applies to companies with features that allow children to upload content that a stranger could download and which have active daily users who are using the platform for at least two hours per day.
“Children are not set up to handle the addiction that some of us as adults have had to face and step away from,” he said. “So unlike an adult who can make an adult decision, say ‘I drank too much last night. I need to drink less or stop drinking altogether,’ a child in their brain development doesn’t have the ability to know that they’re being sucked into these addictive technologies, and to see the harm and step away from it.”
The governor also affirmed that the bill is “not engaging in any regulation of speech” but rather identifying functionality that is causing harm. He is confident in its constitutionality and, therefore, its ability to be held up in court.
Education on Social Media
Along with the attorney general’s investigation into social media companies, Mr. Díaz shared what Florida’s Department of Education is already doing to combat the dangers of social media.In the upcoming school year, Florida schools will be required to provide instruction on the dangers of social media. That instruction, he said, will include information about the negative influence that social media can have on a person and how it can contribute to cyberbullying and “encourage dangerous and risky behaviors in children.” It will also teach students how to recognize and handle “suspicious behavior online.”
School boards are already required to prevent access to social media and other websites and software that don’t protect personal information on any district-owned computers or servers. They’re also required to prohibit the use of the Chinese-owned app TikTok on district-owned devices as well as authorize public school teachers to establish classroom rules on cellphone use and designate a place to store cellphones during class.
But Mr. Díaz praised the bill for continuing Florida’s dedication to parental rights.
“Our parents should be guiding our kids, especially navigating these difficult waters with social media,” he said.
Speaking as a parent, Republican state Sen. Erin Grall warned parents that the road ahead is going to be tough and encouraged them to find communities of support to rid their children of addictions to social media and screen time.
“I’m grateful for the leadership of the state of Florida to take this on in a way that we believe will absolutely be upheld in court and be a model for the country,” she said. “But it always comes back to the parents. And, parents, for too long, we have abdicated our responsibility because ... there is now this babysitter in our homes. This babysitter has none of the hopes and dreams that you have for your children, none of them, but has the ability to take them all away.”
