Florida Senate passes new social media bill with parent permission provision

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A new version of the measure to force children off social media passed the Florida Senate Monday, setting up a final vote in the Florida House before the end of the legislative session this week.

The Senate passed HB 3 on a 30-5 vote. The bill, which requires third-party age verification on websites with material deemed harmful for minors, now contains provisions that ban children under 16 from social media. Children would not be able to make new accounts and existing accounts would have to be shut down.

The measure also contains a provision that allows parents to give consent for 14 and 15-year-olds to have accounts if they wish. This change is part of a compromise to get Gov. Ron DeSantis to sign the bill.

The Florida Legislature last month passed HB 1, which forced children off social media with provisions for parental consent. DeSantis vetoed that bill, after expressing his concern about First Amendment violations and the lack of parental consent.

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Supporters of the bill say social media companies are knowingly designing their platforms to be addictive and are harming children’s mental health. The bill does not mention specific platforms but does list characteristics like user tracking, auto-play, infinite scrolling, and live-streaming as features of those sites.

“We have to do something, and we can’t stand by any longer and allow these companies to own our children with this terrible content,” said State Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, the bill’s sponsor.

However, critics say the bill is still problematic and will likely be blocked by the courts.

“For the government to come in and say ‘no, we have decided the age is 14′ I still think runs into all of the constitutional problems that we have discussed and the general issue of parents making the decision,” said State Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton.

The bill is expected to pass the Florida House before Friday.

Information from The News Service of Florida was used in this report.

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