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One of the biggest modern bipartisan hot-issues is the safety of minors in online spaces. So it’s no surprise that throughout Florida’s legislative session one of the most publicized pieces of legislation was the continual variations of age regulations for Social Media (HB1/3).
The first form the legislation took on was HB1, which would have put a blackout ban on social media for everyone under the age of 16, however, despite passing both the state house and senate, that version of the bill was struck down when governor DeSantis vetoed it.
“As everyone knows, both the speaker and the governor are working together on language that will work for them to basically fix the concerns the governor has with HB1,” Florida Senate president Kathleen Passidomo said in a press release. “My understanding is they are in a really good spot”
The new language that was agreed upon came from HB3 which replaces the complete ban with a parental consent form for fourteen and fifteen year olds, and keeps the complete ban for minors thirteen and under. The bill however does not clearly define what the parental consent forms will look like, nor how they will be enforced.
“I don’t think people under 16 should be on social media,” junior Brooklyn Sirilla said. “But I don’t think the government should have a say either, it should be up to parents not the government. Regardless kids lie about their age all the time, especially for social media. How do they plan on making sure kids don’t lie?”
Another major concern with the bill is its possibility to violate the commerce clause; a constitutional provision which allows the Supreme Court to regulate interstate commerce. Because there would be a massive dip in user base out of the state of Florida, there is grounds for social media companies affected to sue for loss of revenue, and be protected under the Commerce Clause.
“The state frequently runs into a problem when they try to regulate or demonize industry,” Florida Young Democrats treasurer and law student Jackson McMillan said. “When they restricted drag queens, they had to scrape together attorney fees. But going after Disney and Meta? They’ll bury the state in court- as we’ve seen.”
