Florida governor Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a bill imposing strict social-media restrictions for minors younger than 16 years old, a move that will likely face legal challenges from the technology industry.
The bill, once it becomes law on January 1, will ban children under 14 from accessing social-media accounts and require parental permission for children ages 14-15. It will also prohibit minors from accessing “pornographic or sexually explicit” websites, as well as require anonymous and standard age verification for young users.
“Social media harms children in a variety of ways,” DeSantis said in a statement. “HB 3 gives parents a greater ability to protect their children.”
Signing of the bill comes after the Republican governor recently vetoed an earlier version of the legislation, which he considered too restrictive as it encroached upon parental rights. The original draft sought a broad social-media ban for all minors under 16 regardless of parental consent.
“The internet has become a dark alley for our children where predators target them and dangerous social media leads to higher rates of depression, self-harm, and even suicide,” said Florida house speaker Paul Renner, who led both versions of the legislation and quickly came to a compromise with the governor.
“Thanks to Governor DeSantis’ signature, Florida leads the way in protecting children online as states across the country fight to address these dangers,” the state Republican leader added.
Florida joins Arkansas, Ohio, and Utah in placing social-media bans on minors, setting up a likely court battle over the forthcoming law’s constitutionality. NetChoice, a trade group representing a coalition of social-media companies including TikTok and Meta, previously sued Arkansas, Ohio, and Utah and will likely sue Florida as well on free-speech grounds.
“HB 3 forces Floridians to hand over sensitive personal information to websites or lose their access to critical information channels,” NetChoice vice president and general counsel Carl Szabo said Monday. “This infringes on Floridians’ First Amendment rights to share and access speech online.”
“We’re disappointed to see Gov. DeSantis sign onto this route,” he added. “There are better ways to keep Floridians, their families and their data safe and secure online without violating their freedoms.”
But DeSantis believes the legislation will hold up in court.
“I think this did as good a job as you can do — not just to say, ‘Here’s what we think is constitutional in our own judgement’ — but also what we think would ultimately be able to land, given how some judges have gone crosswise on some of these issues,” he said during a press conference.
The bill passed both the Florida house and senate, with some Democrats supporting the Republican-led measure. Not all Florida Democrats, however, were in favor of it.
“This bill goes too far in taking away parents’ rights,” said state representative Anna Eskamani. “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.”