Florida passes a text banning all social networks for under 14s

Florida elected officials fear addiction to these platforms, described as “digital fentanyl”.

Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB3 on Monday, March 25, which is due to come into force on January 1, 2025. It therefore prohibits children under the age of 14 from registering on social networks. Those aged 14 and 15 will be able to do so, but with the express authorization of their parents. “Keeping your head on a screen all day is not the best way to grow or get a good education”estimates the governor of Florida.

“We are trying to help parents navigate this very difficult terrain,” he explains, indicating that social networks can harm children. This law, according to him, gives more tools to protect them. If the groups that own these networks, the text does not cite any in particular, fail to enforce the law, they could pay up to $10,000 to each child in addition to having to pay a fine of $50,000. dollars per violation.

This is not the first law of its kind in the United States and criticism of social networks is one of the rare subjects on which Democrats and Republicans can agree. There was, in fact, no strong opposition to the Florida law in local assemblies. The legislator has been putting pressure on Meta, X, Snapchat and TikTok for months to restrict access to their platforms themselves.

Similar laws in other states

Instagram already prohibits access to children under 13, but it is enough to lie about their date of birth. California, Utah, Ohio, Arkansas, Montana and Louisiana have also considered texts in the same spirit and certain states have already passed similar laws. However, an Ohio judge suspended the law in January 2024 in the name of the First Amendment’s freedom of speech.

On the Florida side, elected officials expressed their determination to defend and apply their bill. It is, they assure us, about defending children against harassment, depression, suicide or human trafficking. So many problems identified by multiple studies. To avoid censorship, the text is written in a way that does not conflict with freedom of expression. There is never any question of the nature of the comments made on the platforms, but rather of the addiction that it causes, notably via algorithms.

Governor DeSantis, a lawyer by training, had rightly vetoed a first, stricter bill, which he was certain would be overturned by the courts. There, he considers that the text is constitutional, but this is not the opinion of NetChoice, a group which represents Meta and Google among others, and which affirms that the law violates the freedom of Floridians.