Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed what would have been one of the vital far-reaching social media bans for minors on Friday, and lawmakers are proposing new language that seeks to maintain youngsters below below 14 off of addictive platforms.
The invoice despatched to the governor final week would have banned minors below 16 from in style social media platforms no matter parental consent. DeSantis had issues about privateness points and parental rights, however seems to be on board with a brand new proposal that might permit 14- and 15-year-olds on social media with parental consent and ban entry for youthful youngsters.
“The Legislature is about to produce a different, superior bill,” DeSantis mentioned in his veto message. “Protecting children from harms associated with social media is important, as is supporting parents’ rights and maintaining the ability of adults to engage in anonymous speech.”
He mentioned he anticipates signing the brand new invoice, which is able to go earlier than the Senate on Monday, simply days earlier than the legislative session ends March 8.
Lawmakers had been anticipating the veto and labored with DeSantis on the compromise. The problem is a prime precedence for Republican Home Speaker Paul Renner, who believes social media is inflicting psychological injury to youngsters.
“My personal view is we ought to go to 18. It is bad. It is poison,” Renner mentioned. “Their business model is addiction that causes harm to children for profit. That’s not good.”
However Renner expressed optimism after the veto and mentioned the brand new proposal is an enchancment to the unique invoice and may have broader public assist.
“It’s a good product of compromise,” he mentioned. “It will have a better chance of getting through the courts.”
A number of states have thought-about comparable laws. In Arkansas, a federal decide blocked enforcement of a legislation in August that required parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts.
Supporters in Florida hope the invoice will face up to authorized challenges as a result of it could ban social media codecs primarily based on addictive options equivalent to notification alerts and autoplay movies, moderately than on the content material on their websites.