Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a law banning children under the age of 14 from using social media. Children under the age of sixteen must obtain parental consent.
Social media platforms in the US state of Florida are required to delete accounts of children under the age of fourteen when the law comes into effect. The accounts of children under the age of sixteen who do not have parental consent must also be deleted. According to DeSantis, this should prevent children from experiencing harmful effects of social media. The law will come into effect on January 1, 2025.
The law does not mention specific platforms. This concerns all platforms that, among other things, allow 'infinite scrolling', autoplay videos and share numbers that indicate how often other users have clicked a like button or shared or reposted the content. Email, messaging and texting apps are not covered by this law.
Social media platforms must use a third-party verification system to identify minors under the new law. By law, such a system must also be used to check the age of visitors to pornographic and sexually explicit websites, so that minors cannot gain access.
In February, Republicans introduced a stricter bill that would prohibit children under would completely ban the age of 16 from using social media. DeSantis vetoed this, because it would restrict the rights of parents too much.