The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, has signed a law that has given his state one of the US’s most restrictive social media bans for minors, though it must still withstand expected legal challenges.
Once it takes effect, the bill signed on Monday bans social media accounts for children under 14 and require parental permission for 14- and 15-year-olds. It was slightly watered down from a proposal DeSantis vetoed earlier in March, a week before the annual legislative session ended.
The new law was the top legislative priority for Republican state house speaker, Paul Renner. It takes effect on 1 January.
“A child in their brain development doesn’t have the ability to know that they’re being sucked into these addictive technologies and to see the harm and step away from it, and because of that we have to step in for them,” Renner said at a ceremony for the bill signing held at a Jacksonville school.
The bill DeSantis vetoed would have banned minors under 16 from popular social media platforms regardless of parental consent. But before the veto, he worked out compromise language with Renner to alleviate the governor’s concerns, and the legislature sent DeSantis a second bill.
Several states have considered similar legislation. In Arkansas, a federal judge in August blocked enforcement of a law that required parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts.
Supporters in Florida hope the bill will withstand legal challenges because it would ban social media formats based on addictive features such as notification alerts and autoplay videos, rather than on their content.
Renner said he expects social media companies to “sue the second after this is signed”.
“But you know what? We’re going to beat them,” Renner remarked. “We’re going to beat them and we’re never, ever going to stop.”
DeSantis also acknowledged the law will be challenged on free speech rights enshrined in the US constitution’s first amendment. He also bemoaned the fact the Stop Woke Act he signed into law two years ago was recently struck down by an appeals court with a majority of Republican-appointed judges. They ruled it violated free speech rights by banning private business from including discussions about racial inequality in employee training.
“Any time I see a bill, if I don’t think it’s constitutional, I veto it,” said DeSantis, a lawyer, expressing confidence that the social media ban will be upheld. “We not only satisfied me, but we also satisfied, I think, a fair application of the law and constitution.”
Khara Boender, a state policy director for the Computer & Communications Industry Association, said in a news release that she understood the concern for online safety but expressed doubt the law would “meaningfully achieve those goals without infringing on the first amendment rights of younger users”.
She also anticipated a legal challenge.
“This law could create substantial obstacles for young people seeking access to online information, a right afforded to all Americans regardless of age,” Bonder said.
The bill overwhelmingly passed both of Florida’s legislative chambers, with some Democrats joining a majority of Republicans who supported the measure. Opponents argued it is unconstitutional and government should not interfere with decisions parents make with their children.
“This bill goes too far in taking away parents’ rights,” the Democratic state house representative Anna Eskamani said in a news release. “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.”