The Florida House appears poised to pass a bill banning children under 16 from using social media.
The bill, HB 1, passed the state's House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday with a 17-5 vote. All five of those who opposed it are Democrats.
If passed, the legislation will not make exceptions for children whose parents approve of them using social media platforms.
House Speaker Paul Renner, a Republican, said that not having exceptions will remove social pressure on parents.
"If we just let parents decide on this one, parents are going to be harangued so much because it makes a kid ostracized not to be on social media," Renner told reporters during a press conference last week, according to a report from the Tallahassee Democrat.
Florida will require social media platforms to use age verification to ensure minors are not using them. The state will also require the companies to delete existing accounts belonging to children.
Republican Rep. Tyler Sirois argued that minors are also prohibited from purchasing alcohol, going to a casino, or getting tattooed.
"This is our best attempt today to try to address a problem that is devastating our youth," Sirois said. "Soaring rates of depression, suicide, social isolation. I could go on and on."
Another bill requiring age verification for pornographic websites, HB 3, also passed the state's House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida has opposed the bill, claiming that it is "part of a larger concerted effort to restrict and control access to information."
"The Supreme Court has made clear that children have First Amendment rights," Kara Gross, ACLU Florida's legislative director and senior policy counsel, said in a statement obtained by the Tallahassee Democrat.
"Outright denying minors access to what the U.S. Supreme Court has termed 'the modern public square' is unconstitutional censorship. Parents do not need the government controlling what ideas their children can and cannot access."
If passed, HB 1 could go into effect by July 1.
The Messenger reports, "On Wednesday, internal documents from Meta released as part of a lawsuit revealed that in 2021 some 100,000 children receive sexually explicit images from adults on Facebook and Instagram every day."
