MIAMI - With the state preparing for a legal challenge from the tech industry, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a high-profile bill aimed at keeping children off social media platforms.
"You better believe, I am going to fight like hell to uphold this in court," Attorney General Ashley Moody said during a bill-signing event in Jacksonville.
Lawmakers this month overwhelmingly passed the bill (HB 3), which House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, made a priority of the annual legislative session. The bill, in part, seeks to prevent children under age 16 from opening social media accounts on at least some platforms — though it would allow parents to give consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to have accounts. Children under 14 could not open accounts.
Renner and other key supporters argue that social media companies have created addictive platforms that harm children's mental health and can lead to sexual predators communicating with minors. But critics, including tech-industry groups, argue the bill is unconstitutional and point to courts blocking similar legislation in other states.
The industry group NetChoice this month urged DeSantis to veto the measure, arguing it would violate First Amendment rights. Spokeswoman Krista Chavez said in an email Monday that the group does not publicly discuss legal strategy, but it quickly recirculated the veto request and earlier statements about the constitutionality of the bill.
"An unconstitutional law will protect exactly zero Floridians," Carl Szabo, NetChoice's vice president and general counsel," said in a statement. "HB 3 is also bad policy because of the data collection on Floridians by online services it will in effect require. This will put their private data at risk of breach."
Renner, however, said the bill focuses on addictive features of the platforms and not on social-media content — an approach that he said is designed to withstand a First Amendment challenge.
"You will not find a line in this bill that addresses good speech or bad speech because that would violate the First Amendment. We've not addressed that at all," Renner, an attorney, said. "What we have addressed is the addictive features that are at the heart of why children stay on these platforms for hours and hours on end."
The bill does not name social media platforms that would be affected. But it includes a definition of such platforms, with criteria related to such things as algorithms, "addictive features" and allowing users to view the content or activities of other users.
Florida Governor Signs Revised Social Media Bill Into Law
After negotiations with State Rep. Paul Renner, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a revised version of the social media bill into law on Monday. DeSantis had vetoed an earlier version of the bill due to concerns about constitutional issues and parental rights infringement.
One significant change in the revised plan is that 14- and 15-year-olds can now open accounts with parental consent, which was not an option in the previous version. Additionally, the earlier version included age-verification requirements for platforms, but this provision was removed in the new plan.
Instead of age-verification requirements, the revised plan aims to ensure compliance by allowing lawsuits against social media platforms for violations of age restrictions. These lawsuits can be filed by the attorney general or on behalf of minors.
Notably, if the tech industry decides to challenge the law, it would mark the second major court battle against Florida's social media legislation in recent years. In 2021, NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association contested the constitutionality of a law that imposed restrictions on large social media companies.
Federal courts have blocked much of that law on First Amendment grounds. Florida took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which heard arguments last month but has not issued a ruling.
During Monday's bill-signing event, Renner said he expects NetChoice to file a lawsuit over the new law, which will not take effect until Jan. 1. But Renner expressed confidence that the state will win in court and cited dangers of social media to children.
"This is an issue where we can no longer stand on the sidelines because of what we know," he said.
The bill also will require age verification to try to prevent minors under age 18 from having access to online pornographic sites, though that issue received relatively little attention during legislative debates.
