Florida vote to restrict children’s social media access

Politicians in the US state of Florida have approved a bill aimed at barring children aged 16 and younger from social media platforms.

The move, by Florida’s House of Representatives. follows similar action in several states to limit online risks to young teenagers.

Passed by a bipartisan vote of 106 to 13, the measure would require social media platforms to terminate the accounts of anyone aged under 17 and use a third-party verification system to screen out the underaged.

“We must address the harmful effects social media platforms have on the development and well-being of our kids,” said Florida House Speaker Paul Renner.

“Florida has a compelling state interest and duty to protect our children, their mental health, and their childhood.”

The bill would also require firms to permanently delete personal information collected from the terminated accounts and let parents bring legal action against those failing to do so.

The legislation now goes to the senate in Florida for consideration. Republicans control both chambers of the state legislature.

Sponsors said the measure was necessary to protect children from depression, anxiety and other mental health woes they say are linked to excessive use of social media, whose addictive aspects make children especially vulnerable, according to critics.

Opponents argued that the bill goes too far, with some urging less restrictive measures, such as letting parents opt in or out of allowing their children to use social media.

Facebook, Instagram opposed to legislation

Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, opposed the legislation, usually referred to as HB1, saying it would limit parental discretion and raise data privacy concerns.

“HB 1 would require each new social media user, from a 13-year-old in Miami to a 73-year-old from Boca Raton, to provide possibly sensitive identifying information, such as a driver’s license or birth certificate to a third-party organisation to verify their age,” Meta’s Caulder Childs told a hearing last week.

Meta says it supports federal legislation for online app stores to secure parents’ approval for downloads by teenagers younger than 16.

The Florida measure does not identify any internet companies by name.

Instead it defines a social media platform as an online forum that tracks account holders’ activity by letting them create user profiles, upload content or view the content or activities of other users and interact with, or track, them.

Among the defining social media functions highlighted by the bill are “addictive, harmful or deceptive design features” or those that induce “an excessive or compulsive need to use or engage with” the platform.

But the measure exempts websites and applications whose predominant function is email, messaging or texting, as well as streaming services, news, sports and entertainment sites, along with online shopping, gaming and academic sites.

Utah became the first US state to adopt laws regulating children’s access to social media last March, followed by others, such as Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio and Texas, according to a legislative analysis prepared for the Florida bill.

It said numerous other states were also considering similar regulations.

In 2015 the European Union passed a law requiring parental consent for a child to access social media, the analysis added.