Minors under 14 years of age may not have social media accounts in the state of Florida, in United States.
Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, issued a law that prohibits minors under 14 from accessing social networks and requires young people aged 14 and 15 obtain parental consent.
The law requires platforms social networks to cancel the accounts of minors 14 years old and minors under 16 who do not have parental authorization, reported the Reuters news agency.
Furthermore, the regulations require that they use a third party verification system to rule out minors.
“Social networks harm children in many ways“DeSantis said in a statement.
The legislation “gives parents greater ability to protect your children“. The regulations will come into force on January 1, 2025.
DeSantis and the law’s sponsors maintain that the mental health of children and adolescents can be affected by the social media content.
Florida’s Republican-led legislature passed a bill in February that completely banned children under 14 from accessing social media.
Control of minors
However, DeSantis vetoed it earlier this month, after claiming that the prohibition limited the rights of parents.
Supporters of the rule hope the legislation will put a stop to harmful effects of social networks in the well-being of children.
Critics, however, say the law violates First Amendment protections. United States Constitution to the expression freedoom.
They consider that it is the parents, and not the government, who responsible for making decisions about the presence of their children, of all ages, on social networks.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, opposed the legislation, arguing that it raises data privacy issues.
This is intended to require users to provide personal information to verify their age.
Florida law does not refer to any specific social network, but states that its targets are sites that promote “infinite navigation.”
The move forces social media companies to permanently delete personal information collected from terminated accounts.
In March 2023, Utah became the first state in the country to adopt laws to regulate children’s access to social media.
Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio and Texas followed, according to a legislative analysis prepared for the Florida bill.
The legislative evaluation indicated that other localities in the United States are studying similar regulations.
