Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis Once Again Decides on Banning Social Media for Teenagers!
Cybersecdn– The city of Tallahassee Less than a week after Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill that would have banned teens from using social media, lawmakers sent him a new version on Wednesday that they think will pass.
The bill was passed by the House with 109 votes to 4 votes against. It was Republican Speaker Paul Renner’s main goal for the 60-day session that ends on Friday. For kids younger than 14, the bill will ban social media accounts. For kids ages 15 and 16, it will require permission from a parent. “We’re not opening a Pandora’s box, we’re closing one,” said the bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Tyler Sirois. “The damage it does to our children is well known and very bad.”
On Friday, DeSantis vetoed a bill that would have been one of the strictest social media bans for teens in the country. He told lawmakers that he backed the idea behind the bill and worked with Renner to add new language to it.
The original plan would have made it illegal for kids younger than 16 to use popular social media sites, even if their parents agreed.
After the vote, Renner said that the plan would “literally save the lives of kids” if it made it through the courts.
“We know that cyberspace is where most sexual crimes against kids happen,” he said. “We know it’s a place where they are bullied online and where people destroy their sense of self-worth.” It causes big mental health problems, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, anorexia, and a lot more.
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Several states have thought about passing laws like this. In Arkansas, a federal judge stopped the execution of a law in August that said kids under 13 had to get permission from their parents to make new social media accounts. Supporters in Florida hope that the bill will not be overturned by the courts because it would ban social media forms based on features that make them addicting, like auto-play videos and notification alerts, instead of the content they contain.
