OAN’s Elizabeth Volberding
3:00 PM – Monday, March 25, 2024
Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis signed a measure into law that restricts social media access for users that are younger than 14-years-old and requires parental consent for users under 16-years-old.
On Monday, DeSantis (R-Fla.) signed the new law meant to limit minors from using social media. Nonetheless, the order is anticipated to face legal objections from the tech field and possibly some pro-freedom activists.
Children under the age of 14 will not be allowed to have social media accounts, while children aged 15 to 16-years-old would need parental consent if they wish to have their own account.
Republican Speaker Paul Renner’s top legislative priorities revolved around the new law, and it will take effect on January 1st, 2025.
“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, and because of that we have to step in for them,” Renner explained at the bill-signing ceremony that took place at a Jacksonville school.
Previously, “the bill DeSantis vetoed would have banned minors under 16 from popular social media platforms regardless of parental consent. But before the veto, he worked out compromise language with Renner to alleviate the governor’s concerns and the Legislature sent DeSantis a second bill,” AP News reported.
Legislation of this kind has been considered in several states.
A federal judge in Arkansas had blocked legislation that required parental permission for teenagers to open new social media accounts from going into effect in August.
Since the bill would prohibit social media formats based on addictive characteristics like notification alerts and auto-play videos, rather than their content, many supporters in Florida are hoping it will withstand judicial challenges.
Renner also stated how he anticipates that social media companies will “sue the second after this is signed. But you know what? We’re going to beat them. We’re going to beat them and we’re never, ever going to stop.”
DeSantis expressed prior that the “Stop Woke Act,” which he had signed into law two years earlier, had just been overturned by an appeals court made up primarily of justices nominated by Republicans, and he acknowledged that the bill would be challenged on First Amendment grounds.
They decided that prohibiting private companies from having talks about racial inequity in employee training was a violation of the right to free speech.
“Any time I see a bill, if I don’t think it’s constitutional, I veto it,” DeSantis explained, voicing his confidence that the social media prohibition will be maintained. “We not only satisfied me, but we also satisfied, I think, a fair application of the law and Constitution.”
A significant number of Democrats joined the majority of Republicans in supporting the bill, which was enacted by both chambers with overwhelming support. The government should not interfere in decisions parents make for their children, according to its opponents, who claimed it is unconstitutional.
“This bill goes too far in taking away parents’ rights,” Representative Anna Eskamani (D-Fla.) said in a news release. “Instead of banning social media access, it would be better to ensure improved parental oversight tools, improved access to data to stop bad actors, alongside major investments in Florida’s mental health systems and programs.”
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