OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis put distance between himself and a bill banning minors younger than 16 from opening social media accounts Friday, adding to the hurdles the bill faces even as lawmakers push it forward.
The bill, given the honorary title “HB 1″ to signify its status in the legislature, has already been hit with concerns by staff and members of the public that it’s a government overreach. Many parents believe it infringes on their rights, while staff released nearly two pages of constitutional concerns that ranged from First Amendment infringement to contract violations.
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The governor did not bash the bipartisan effort, but suggested he would be reluctant to sign it as-is because it would not stand up in court.
“We’ll see if we get a product that is going to be something that’s good, but I am concerned about the breadth of it,” DeSantis said during a press conference in Kissimmee Friday.
Despite backers of the bill calling, it a narrowly targeted effort to protect young Floridians, social media companies are also stepping up their attacks.
On Wednesday, representatives from Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads, pointed to the bill’s many loopholes, which they said included Snapchat, a popular app among teens, because it’s primarily a messaging application.
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They said the company supported an effort to mandate parental notification and consent every time their children downloaded an app, but they said regulation should begin at the federal level to maintain consistency among the 50 U.S. states.
They also pointed to the company’s dozens of tools that assist teenagers on their platforms, from word and content blocking to algorithms that work in the background to identify suspicious adults and prevent them from interacting with teenagers.
Company officials declined to comment on whether they would file a lawsuit if DeSantis ultimately signed off on any restrictions.
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