New Florida Law Will Prohibit Anyone Under 14 From Obtaining Social Media Accounts
The state of Florida has enacted a new law which restricts residents under the age of 14 from holding accounts on social media.
The strict social media bill, signed on Monday, includes apps TikTok and Instagram, which both currently house over one billion active users.
This law will prohibit specific apps from allowing underage teens to register and would require services to terminate accounts which the platform knows or is suspected to belong to users under 14 years old, per the New York Times.
Platforms must obtain a parent's permission before accounts can be granted to anyone younger, per the news outlet.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the law amid a push to protect young people from the safety risks of online activity and social media.
DeSantis, 45, believes the new statute will lend a hand to parents struggling to get a grip on the "difficult terrain" of social media, adding the tip that being "buried" in social media is no way to grow up.
"Social media harms children in a variety of ways," he said in a statement, including that the bill seeks to give "parents a greater ability to protect their children." However, the governor didn't stop there.
The new law will also require online pornography services to utilize an age-verification technology system which will deter minors from engaging with their platforms.
Following in the footsteps of apps like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act mandates certain online platforms to obtain parental permission due to collecting personal information including age, locations, or selfie photos.
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Many social media platforms have come under scrutiny in recent weeks including controversial hearings for Facebook and TikTok.
Mark Zuckerberg, who started Facebook while studying at Harvard University in 2004 at age 19, addressed parents during a recent congressional hearing regarding online harm to children.
"I'm sorry for everything you've been through," Zuckerberg, 39, began. "No one should go through the things that your families have suffered."
According to a statement obtained by The Guardian, he concluded: "This is why we invest so much and we are going to continue doing industry-wide efforts to make sure no one has to go through the things your families have had to suffer."
