Ban on social media use by minors ready for debate on House floor

Legislation that would bar most Florida children from having social media accounts is headed to the House floor.

The House Judiciary Committee advanced the bill (HB 1), a priority of House Speaker Paul Renner. But unlike a prior committee stop, the legislation saw outspoken opposition, and the bill moved forward on a 17-5 vote.

The legislation requires social media platforms to verify ages of users and prohibit anyone under the age of 16 from opening an account, and also mandates deleting existing accounts for minors.

Rep. Tyler Sirois, a Merritt Island Republican, said it’s important to establish standards on what services minors use online when none exist today.

“You have children and adults operating in the same space, on the same playing field, able to view the same content,” he said during a committee hearing. “So what we’re doing here is, like other areas that have been established in law — alcohol Beverage laws, for example, the gambling industry — those are examples of industries where you cannot take your child.”

The legislation already cleared the House Regulatory Reform & Economic Development Subcommittee, so it’s now ready for a vote by the full House.

There remains no Senate companion.

The legislation prompted teenage activists and advocates to speak out against the bill as stifling and arbitrary.

“The generation of social media does not want this,” said Christopher Holtz, who said access to social media helped him survive an isolated family life as a teen.

Representatives of Meta, one of the world’s largest social media companies, also spoke up against the bill, suggesting the legislation as it reads now pushes constitutional limits.

But State Attorney Amira Fox, a Fort Myers Republican, spoke in favor of the bill and called social media the recruiting ground for child predators. “That’s where pedophiles find victims,” she said.

Rep. Fiona McFarland, who in past years delved into digital privacy issues, stressed that the legislation also protects the data for minors. Tech companies must delete all information for minors now within five days of a user asking for their account to be deleted, and within 10 days if a parent makes the request.

The bill received pushback as overreach into an area best left to parents.

“I believe, as a parent, that it should be my right to decide what age my children should be on social media and what content I would allow them to see,” said Rep. Dianne Hart, a Tampa Democrat. “I believe that we’re taking that right away.”

Lawmakers also voiced concern that many minors make a living on platforms like YouTube or TikTok.

“There are some young people who make significant sums using social media, whether it’s through the advertising or other kinds of relationships they have with various sponsors, marketers,” said Rep. Dotie Joseph, a North Miami Republican. “And they do so usually in conjunction with their parents. Their parents help manage the account.”

But McFarland said those users face the same risks to their mental health from a life online.

“I care about their mental health, too,” McFarland said. “There are very prominent social media influencers — I don’t want to bring their name into this committee without their permission — but there are young social media influencers who have very publicly shared their battles with mental health as a result of their very public online persona.”

Much of the policy discussion centered around the technology behind age verification. McFarland joked she claims to be 28 online, but advertising algorithms seem to market products at her like a woman in her 30s (Wikipedia says McFarland was born in 1985).

Some also questioned the enforceability of the law.

“If the company has not identified this child online, the child is not complaining, the parent is not complaining about it, then there’s no legal action that happens and there’s no ramifications?” asked Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, an Orlando Democrat.

Sirois acknowledged some consumers will find holes in the system.

“There are always going to be some people that game the system, but I think what we’ve established here is a bright line,” he said.