Andrew Atterbury
POLITICO Pro
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Republicans in the Florida House introduced two key pieces of the chamber’s 2024 conservative agenda on Thursday intending to safeguard children in the state by restricting their access to social media and pornography websites.
The two proposals — setting an age limit of 16 for creating any social media account and requiring adult websites to block access to anyone under 18 years old — would put Florida in league with several other states that have pursued similar measures. While the ideas are opposed by some free speech groups and face legal challenges in courts elsewhere, they appear to be on the fast track in Florida with the backing of House and Senate leaders.
“We are losing our children to social media and adult content websites,” House Speaker Paul Renner (R-Palm Coast), who is pushing the two bills, said Thursday. “We have to give parents a fighting chance against these tech companies that prey on our kids to pad their profit margins.”
The social media legislation, FL HB1 (24R), would require platforms to prohibit anyone younger than 16 from creating an account and require them to use a third-party for age verification services. At the same time, it calls on social media companies to terminate accounts for users in the state under 16.
Lawmakers in Florida say the bill is a way to curb serious issues plaguing children across the state, including cases of bullying, depression, social pressure and even suicide tied to accessing social media. It would open the door for parents to take legal action against social media companies that don’t take down children’s accounts, including the possibility of landing up to $10,000 in damages and court fees.
Florida would be the latest state to pursue social media restrictions for minors since Utah become the first in 2023, followed by Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio and Texas.
The measure was widely supported by Democrats and Republicans alike during its introductory hearing Thursday, although some lawmakers raised objections. Namely, critics are quick to note that there is no carve-out in the bill allowing parents to override it, which they claim flies in the face of the state’s emphasis on strong parental rights.
“It just feels like the government is now telling parents that ‘No, you don’t really have the ability to make the ultimate decision in your children’s lives,’ particularly when it comes to social media,” said state Rep. Ashley Gantt (D-Miami) on Thursday as the bill was debated.
For Republicans, that’s by design. A co-sponsor of the bill, state Rep. Fiona McFarland (R-Sarasota), said that other ideas to curb social media access for children, such as ways to track accounts or improve social media literacy for adults, are too weak.
“The House is aiming to say that’s not good enough, and we’re going to take a stronger stance,” McFarland said during Thursday’s Regulatory Reform & Economic Development subcommittee meeting.
Florida’s proposal appears to be even stronger than the legislation that Utah passed last year, which requires social media companies to score parental consent before minors under 18 can open or maintain an account. Utah’s social media regulations, set to take effect in March, are being challenged in court by a trade group associated with Meta, TikTok and X that claims the law violates First Amendment free expression rights.
Another House priority bill, FL HB3 (24R), targets the ability of minors to access websites featuring adult content. This proposal, something that other states have also attempted, requires websites that publish materials “harmful to minors” to take “reasonable” steps to verify age to prevent anyone younger than 18 from accessing them. Similarly to the social media bill, the age-verification measures must be led by a third-party entity.
Several states, including Louisiana, Arkansas, Montana, Mississippi, Utah, Virginia and Texas, have backed age-verification laws, which have become one of the more popular bipartisan policies in the country while also creating havoc in a porn industry that many had considered all but impossible to actually regulate.
“I understand it’s not the government’s job to raise children, but it is our role to give parents the tools and provisions necessary to protect their children,” Chase Tramont (R-Port Orange), a co-sponsor of the bill, said during Thursday’s hearing.
Both Florida bills have one more scheduled hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, after which they will be eligible for consideration by the full chamber. Similar bills have emerged in the Senate, where there is apparent support.
“There is a huge interest in the Senate to support those initiatives,” Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R-Naples) told reporters Tuesday. “We have a lot of … our senators with young children, and they are very concerned about the future of their kids online.”
