Photo by Bob Self/ Florida Times- Union.
Ron DeSantis has signed off on House Bill 3, which is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2025. Children under 14 years of age will be restricted from some social media platforms.
The bill will require socials to remove any accounts that do not meet the age requirement when it goes into effect.
The option for parents to give consent for social media will continue to be granted to ages 14 and 15. Anyone 16 and above will have access any platform.
DeSantis included that this notion is expected to have multiple legal challenges. The specifics of which social media platforms are being restricted are not yet known. Questions are arising due to the possible violation of the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment.
“You will not find a line in this bill that addresses good speech or bad speech because that would violate the first amendment,” said Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Paul Renner.
Renner said the reasoning for the bill to be in place is to limit the addictive factor in children’s lives in the twenty-first century. Children are constantly using their technology. These addictive patterns are beginning earlier on as children are being given access to social media.
Renner explains that children’s addiction to technology isn’t the equivalent to adult’s addiction to alcohol. The difference he stated is that adults should know right from wrong whereas children may not.
Legislators claim the bill is being instated to protect minors from mental disorders. Renner included in his speech thestatistics of high school women’s health. In the last year, 50% have consistently felt hopelessness and loneliness. In the last 30 days 41% suffered from mental health problems. In the last year 30% contemplated suicide. However, Renner did not provide the source of the statistics.
“Anorexia, self harm, anxiety, depression, suicide- we still haven’t seen the long term affects,” said Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.
It is planned to also give children protection from online trafficking by lessoning the use of minors communicating with adults using false accounts.
Florida implemented restrictions on social media and certain websites on school district devices in 2023, and the HB 3 is a continuation of that on a wider scale.
Additional details on how the Bill was originally vetoed, reworked, and the public’s opinion can be found here: New Florida Bill Potentially Banning Minors from Social Media