Press Release
By Governor’s Press Office
03-25-24
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—Today, Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 3, which prohibits children under the age of 14 from becoming social media account holders and allows 14- and 15-year-olds to become account holders with parental consent.
“Social media harms children in a variety of ways,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “HB 3 gives parents a greater ability to protect their children. Thank you to Speaker Renner for delivering this landmark legislation.”
“The internet has become a dark alley for our children where predators target them and dangerous social media leads to higher rates of depression, self-harm, and even suicide,” said House Speaker Paul Renner. “I am proud of the work of all our bill sponsors, Representatives Tyler Sirois, Fiona McFarland, Michele Rayner, Chase Tramont, and Toby Overdorf for delivering a legislative framework that prioritizes keeping our children safe. Thanks to Governor DeSantis’ signature, Florida leads the way in protecting children online as states across the country fight to address these dangers.”
Specifically, this bill:
- Prevents a minor who is younger than 14 years of age from becoming a social media account holder.
- Empowers parents to decide whether 14- and 15-year-olds can have a social media account.
- Protects the ability of Floridians to remain anonymous online.
In addition to protecting children from the dangers of social media, HB 3 requires pornographic or sexually explicit websites to use age verification to prevent minors from accessing sites that are inappropriate for children.
Speaker Renner Priority to Protect Florida’s Children from Online Dangers Signed into Law
Legislation targets the addictive features social media companies use to prop up their businesses and protects children from accessing pornography online
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (March 25, 2024) — The Florida House Speaker Paul Renner (R-Palm Coast), Representative Tyler Sirois (R-Merritt Island), Representative Chase Tramont (R-Port Orange), and Senator Erin Grall (R-Vero Beach) today joined Governor Ron DeSantis in Jacksonville as House Bill 3 – Online Protection of Minors – was signed into law. This legislation will protect children from irreparable harms on social media and from being exposed to pornography online.
“The internet has become a dark alley for our children where predators target them and dangerous social media leads to higher rates of depression, self-harm, and even suicide,” said Speaker Renner. “I am proud of the work of all our bill sponsors, Representatives Tyler Sirois, Fiona McFarland, Michele Rayner, Chase Tramont, and Toby Overdorf for delivering a legislative framework that prioritizes keeping our children safe. Thanks to Governor DeSantis’ signature, Florida leads the way in protecting children online as states across the country fight to address these dangers.”
HB 3 – Online Protection of Minors
The bill is narrowly focused on the addictive features some social media platforms employ to target children which cause significant irreparable harm. This legislation uses a narrow four-prong test to focus on platforms where:
- Ten percent of daily active users are children under 16 who use the platform for two hours or more a day (which corresponds to mental health harms);
- The platform employs addictive design features;
- The platform uses an algorithm that gathers personal information about each child and delivers ever-changing content to keep them on the platform for as long as possible; and
- The platform allows users to upload content and view the activity of other users.
Social media platforms that fall into those criteria must ensure that minors under 14 are not permitted on their platforms. But the bill allows platforms to develop their own methods for accomplishing this goal. The platforms must also adopt acceptable methods for parental opt-in for 14 and 15-year-old minors.
The bill increases subpoena powers for the attorney general to enforce the measure and outlines penalties for violations by offending social media platforms and adult websites. It also provides for private causes of action by parents on behalf of their minor children.
Websites that host adult content with material harmful to minors must provide anonymous third-party age verification methods to ensure that the user is 18 years of age. The user data must be deleted upon verification.
With the Governor’s signature, HB 3 would take effect January 1, 2025. For more information on HB 3, visit www.myfloridahouse.gov.
