FL signs bill banning social media for children under 14; legal challenges expected

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Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Monday in one of the first social media bans for minors. “The new law will take effect January 1st of next year, and will ban 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 this month, a week before the annual legislative session ended” reports the Associated Press.

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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” adds the AP.

The new law is expected to face legal challenges, as with several states which 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.

“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,” stated Republican Speaker Paul Renner said at the bill-signing ceremony held at a Jacksonville school.

The AP notes that both Renner and DeSantis expect legal challenges. 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. We’re going to beat them and we’re never, ever going to stop.”

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DeSantis also acknowledged the law will be challenged on First Amendment issues, and 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, according to the AP.

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