The Florida House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bill aimed at banning children 16 and younger from social media platforms, following similar action in several states to limit online risks for young teens. Gave it.

Passed by a bipartisan vote of 106 to 13, the measure would require social media platforms to terminate the accounts of anyone under the age of 17 and use third-party verification systems to verify underage users. Will happen.

Florida House Speaker Paul Reiner said, “We must pay attention to the harmful effects of social media platforms on the development and well-being of our children.”

“Protecting our children, their mental health, and their childhood is Florida’s imperative state interest and duty.”

The bill would also require companies to permanently delete personal information collected from terminated accounts and allow parents to file a civil lawsuit against those who fail to do so.

The legislation now heads to the Florida State Senate for consideration. Republicans control both houses of the state legislature.

Sponsors said the measure was necessary to protect children from depression, anxiety and other mental health problems they say are linked to excessive use of social media, the addictive aspects of which critics say make it worse. Children become especially vulnerable.

Opponents argued that the bill goes too far, urging some less restrictive measures, such as allowing parents to allow or opt out of allowing their children to use social media.

Instagram and Facebook’s parent company Meta opposed the legislation, commonly known as HB1, saying it would limit parental discretion and raise data privacy concerns.

“HB 1 would require every new social media user, from a 13-year-old in Miami to a 73-year-old man in Boca Raton, to provide potentially sensitive identifying information, such as a driver’s license or birth certificate, to a third .The party organization would have to verify their age,” META’s Calder Childs told the House Judiciary Committee at a Jan. 17 hearing.

Meta says it supports federal legislation for online app stores to ensure parental approval for downloads by teens under 16.

The Florida measure does not identify any Internet companies by name.

Instead it defines a social media platform as an online forum that tracks the activity of account holders, makes them create user profiles, then upload content or view other users’ content or activities and interact with them. interacts with, or tracks them.

Among the defined social media functions highlighted by the bill are those that have “addictive, harmful or deceptive design features” or those that induce an “excessive or compulsive need to use or engage” with the platform.

But the measure exempts websites and applications whose main function is email, messaging or texting, as well as streaming services, news, sports and entertainment sites, as well as online shopping, gaming and academic sites.

According to a legislative analysis prepared for the Florida bill, Utah became the first US state to adopt laws regulating children’s access to social media in March 2023, followed by states like Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio and Texas. Went.

It said several other states are also considering similar rules.

The analysis notes that in 2015 the European Union passed a law that would require parental consent for a child to access social media.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Reuters)