Marco Rubio has doubts about Florida youth social media ban

Legislation that passed the Florida House and is now moving through the Senate that would ban Floridians under the age of 16 from having social media accounts is drawing doubts from Florida’s senior Senator.

Marco Rubio said he thinks courts would strike it down.

His “only concern about it would be that social media is not a state phenomenon. It is an interstate commerce issue. It involves things across state lines. It’s very difficult for states to regulate that. My sense is some court would probably strike it down on those grounds,” he told an Orlando NPR station.

The Judiciary Committee advanced state Sen. Erin Grall’s bill this week that bans them from creating new accounts, and requires platforms to terminate existing accounts held by those youth.

The bill is similar to HB 1, a priority of House Speaker Paul Renner that has already been voted on and sent to the Senate. Renner’s bill was passed despite legal challenges to similar legislation in Utah and Ohio.

“I don’t want to leave the impression that this is going to be an easy thing to do in terms of passing a state law, and all of a sudden, every one of these social media platforms is going to ban people that are under 16 years of age. When you talk about things that you’re conducting online, it’s hard sometimes to even know the age of those people. There’s loopholes around it,” Rubio said.

Debate continues about the legislation’s viability in Tallahassee also, including from the state’s top Republican.

Questions remain in the executive branch about its legality.

“There have been other states that have tried to do similar things that have met resistance in the courts,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said last month. “Not to say courts are always right about this, but anything I do, I want a pathway for this to actually stick.”

Florida’s Attorney General is more sold on the legislation’s viability.

“I think you’re going to see leaders all over the nation that are parents. We all have children. Folks are getting to our children, and adults (who) want to do them harm are getting to our children through social media. Our children are being exposed to inappropriate material; they’re being addicted online,” AG Ashley Moody said on Fox News last month.

“We have to do something to stand up for our kids. I’m proud of the state of Florida, (which) is exploring ways to do that. And I think you’re going to see that all over the nation.”