Florida Legislature Bans Children Under 16 from Social Media

Shoshana Weissman, a fellow at the free market think tank R Street Institute, has been recently focusing on multiple states’ efforts to impose social media restrictions on minors.

“Banning users under 16 from accessing free speech violates the First Amendment many times over,” Weissman told Mediaite. Regarding HB-1, she said that the various provisions that “narrow applicability of the bill to certain social media platforms and all the speech based exemptions similarly create First Amendment concerns.”

The specific mechanism of HB-1 of requiring users to upload personal IDs, documents, and other information “would cause manifest cybersecurity vulnerabilities, it would violate the First Amendment many times over according to established precedent, and it would just waste taxpayer money,” she argued. “Preventing minors from accessing social media and requiring age verification means that all users in Florida will have to upload government IDs, face scans, social security numbers or other invasive means to endless platforms including TikTok, which many believe is a cybersecurity risk. Age verification is identity verification particularly when a parent needs to approve a child’s use. The parent has to prove they are not only an adult, but the parent to the specific child.”

She commented that similar laws that were attempted in Utah and Arkansas had been tossed by the courts, even though Utah was coming back with a bill that had “most of the same problems.”

The bill is now headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R-FL) desk, but as Weissman noted, he has expressed doubts about the bill and acknowledged other states’ efforts being struck down in court.