Posted on 01/30/2024 9:56:45 AM PST by jimwatx
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida children under the age of 16 would be banned from popular social media platforms regardless of parent approval under a bill passed by the House on Wednesday, a measure that is the top priority for the chamber’s speaker.
The bill doesn’t list which platforms would be affected, but it targets any social media site that tracks user activity, allows children to upload material and interact with others and uses addictive features designed to cause excessive or compulsive use. The bill would not affect apps used for private messages between individuals.
“They’re taking advantage of kids growing up. That’s their business model. And why do they do it? To keep them hooked … with the dopamine hits that the platform gives our children with every autoplay, with every like, with every push notification,” said bill sponsor Republican Rep. Tyler Sirois.
The House voted 106-13 for the bill, with several Democrats joining Republicans in support. Proponents argued that social media exposes children to bullying and sexual predators and can lead to depression, suicide and an addictive obsession.
Democratic Rep. Michele Rayner said she posted her position on the bill on X on Tuesday, and she referred to her deceased mother. On the House floor Wednesday, she read some of the hateful comments she received from the platform’s users, including people who posted, “Your mother sucks” and “Your mom was stupid.”
“I’m 42-years old … and comments like these were a gut punch to me, but I was able to navigate,” she said. “Imagine what our babies have to deal with when they have their friends in school doing the same cyberbullying to them.”
Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms, urged the House to seek another solution, such as requiring parental approval to download apps. It also wants the issue addressed on a federal level rather than a patchwork of different state laws.
“Many teens today leverage the internet and apps to responsibly gather information and learn about new opportunities, including part-time jobs, higher education, civic or church gatherings, and military service,” Meta representative Caulder Harvill-Childs wrote to the House Judiciary Committee. “By banning teens under 16, Florida risks putting its young people at a disadvantage versus teens elsewhere.”
Other states have considered similar legislation, but most have not proposed a total ban. In Arkansas, a federal judge blocked enforcement of a law in August that required parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts.
But Republican House Speaker Paul Renner, who has made the issue his top priority, said the Florida bill should withstand constitutional scrutiny because it targets the addictive features of social media, and not the content.
“It’s a situation where kids can’t stay off the platforms, and as a result of that, they have been trapped in an environment that harms their mental health,” Renner told reporters after the vote.
The Florida bill would require social media companies to close any accounts it believes to be used by minors and to cancel accounts at the request of a minor or parents. Any information pertaining to the account must be deleted.
Opponents argued that the bill would violate the First Amendment and take away benefits some children get from social media. And they said parents should make the decisions on which sites their children can visit.
Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani said social media was an outlet and comfort where she could find support after her mother died when she was 13.
“I think the intention of those who have filed (the bill) is absolutely golden. We have a concern about the impact of social media on our young people,” she said. “I just find the solution that you propose too broad and casts a wide a net with unintended consequences.”
Exactly.
I recall I only had one friend on MySpace, a guy named Tom Anderson, and I didn’t really know him. :/
That’s for the parents to decide, not the govt. DeSantis has many more issues concerning Florida.
AGREED
Here is the problem... They are changing the definition to make the term apply to EVERYTHING but market sites all the way back to USENET BBS Boards. And market sites that have customer feedback. It is not just sites like Facebook, Twitter, or apps like Tik Tok, everything that allows users to interactively participate with each other. Forums, BBS Boards, Interactive blogs, message apps, Etc. As an example this definition was just updated ahead of time for the roll out of this future action just a few days ago. And you can absolutely bet your “information” is NOT safe with this concept.
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated: Jan 25, 2024 • Article History
social media, a form of mass media communications on the Internet (such as on websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos). Social networking and social media are overlapping concepts, but social networking is usually understood as users building communities among themselves while social media is more about using social networking sites and related platforms to build an audience.
The earliest forms of social media appeared almost as soon as technology could support them. E-mail and chat programs debuted in the early 1970s, but persistent communities did not surface until the creation of the discussion group network USENET in 1979. USENET allowed users to post and receive messages within subject areas called newsgroups. USENET and other discussion forums, such as privately hosted bulletin board systems (BBSs), enabled individuals to interact, but each was essentially a closed system. With the release in 1993 of the Mosaic web browser, those systems were joined with an easy-to-use graphical interface. The architecture of the World Wide Web made it possible to navigate from one site to another with a click, and faster Internet connections allowed for more multimedia content than could be found in the text-heavy newsgroups.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-media
Here is Wikipedia:
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the creation, sharing and aggregation of content, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks.[1][2] Social media refers to new forms of media that involve interactive participation. While challenges to the definition of social media arise[3][4] due to the variety of stand-alone and built-in social media services currently available, there are some common features:[2]
Social media are interactive Web 2.0 Internet-based applications.[2][5][6]
User-generated content—such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, and data generated through all online interactions—is the lifeblood of social media.[2][5]
Users create service-specific profiles for the website or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization.[2][7]
Social media helps the development of online social networks by connecting a user’s profile with those of other individuals or groups.[2][7]
The term social in regard to media suggests that platforms are user-centric and enable communal activity. As such, social media can be viewed as online facilitators or enhancers of human networks—webs of individuals who enhance social connectivity.[8]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media
What is social media?
Social media is a collective term for websites and applications that focus on communication, community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration.
People use social media to stay in touch and interact with friends, family and various communities. Businesses use social applications to market and promote their products and track customer concerns.
Business-to-consumer websites include social components, such as comment fields for users. Various tools help businesses track, measure and analyze the attention the company gets from social media, including brand perception and customer insight.
Social media has enormous traction globally. Mobile applications make these platforms easily accessible. Some popular examples of general social media platforms include Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
What are the business applications of social media?
In business, social media is used to market products, promote brands, connect to customers and foster new business. As a communication platform, social media promotes customer feedback and makes it easy for customers to share their experiences with a company. Businesses can respond quickly to positive and negative feedback, address customer problems and maintain or rebuild customer confidence.
Social media is also used for crowdsourcing. That’s the practice of using social networking to gather knowledge, goods or services. Companies use crowdsourcing to get ideas from employees, customers and the general public for improving products or developing future products or services.
https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/defin ... cial-media
This means US HERE AT the FR and every forum on the net. If Florida does this it will spread across the nation like wildfire and every site but stores will be required to comply. And you can bet the “3rd party verification” service will be directly affiliated with law enforcement and/or Spooks. So what will happen?
Most folks will give the websites the big finger. So internet participation is going to crash. I know I won’t be giving out this sensitive info to anyone for anything or for any reason. My bank doesn’t even ask for what they are asking for to use their system. So if this passes domain options will be:
1, First close the front page off from public viewing which will kill the advertising aspect of a site.
2. Revamp the website script to accommodate these regulations for just those from Florida IP addresses.
3. Apply the regulations to everyone. (Most likely option for most sites because it is less work to apply it to all regions across the board. Websites are already doing this option to everyone because of Ca internet laws.)
4.. Block all Florida IP addresses so that you don’t have to rebuild the site software just to accommodate Florida.
5. Close up shop altogether.
This is dangerous, I can’t believe it but most Godly people of faith are all in for this to be mandated to save the children of course. It will be the biggest mistake ever thrown at the internet and will destroy both them and the internet.
This will spread to be just like an internet driver’s license.
“VPN’s will be the next thing they outlaw and it won’t just be for kids. Nikki Haley (and her deep state donors) want to do away with anonymous posting on the internet and force people to have an internet ID.”
Yep... And any form of encryption.
But if the parents are stupid enough and they refuse to be the parent, then maybe the law have to step in.
Not picking on your comment in this context, but this is the same argument the left uses to justify teaching our kids about sex (all variants).
Let's play...!!
Do kids know what the USA stands for....
What about do they know what the IRS stands for?
What about states....do they know what state is KS?
What about GNP?
What about CNA? What about LPN? What about RRT?
I'd guess many 20 year olds have no clue.
“Typically, I’m for the states.”
Once that door is open it will go viral. and it will be the downfall of the FR and the internet as a whole. Read #25.
This is the reality of the cause and effect of this if not nipped in the bud. By law every device sold already has “parental controls” begging to be setup.
Banning the platforms is the wrong way to do it. But how about making social media platforms liable for psychological damages linked to excessive screen time and myriad social media contagions? EVERY study that looks at this finds that kids (and young adults as well) are being harmed by this in quite serious ways. This is not speculative. I’ll be happy to serve on the jury.
A tobacco company can get sued if someone lights a cigarette in the next county, and I exaggerate only slightly. Why does lawfare only seem to work in one direction?
Good post. It’s a slippery slop that’s starts off by limiting minors internet access *for the good of the children* but this will eventually be extended to censoring websites that challenge the narratives the elites want to push.
“It would seem that there’s some way to properly get parental permission.”
By law every device sold already has “parental controls” ready to be set up. Been this way for a decade or more.
“It’s a slippery slop that’s starts off by limiting minors internet access *for the good of the children* but this will eventually be extended to censoring websites that challenge the narratives the elites want to push.”
absolutely, and like terrorists they hide behind the children to do it.
This is really bad. folks need to wake up to what this really is. It is the incremental controls over the internet just like in china. With no ID we will not get to interact or discuss anything at all on the net.
The same argument you’re making for social media can be used for anything you call a vice.
Shouldn’t some things be reserved for people who (supposedly) are old enough to understand what they’re consuming/seeing/reading/ingesting?
They aren’t going after the parents rights. They are going after the apps. They want to make it illegal for anyone under 16 to log onto on app that has LIKES, FOLLOWERS, and a way to COMMUNICATE with others. Basically, they’d be able to play games and get on google, but Tik-Tok, Insta and apps like that would be age restricted. PEDOs are really going to hate it!!!
“Alcohol is always a danger in the hands of minors. Nothing good can ever come of it. Not so with the Internet.”
I guess you have never heard of Sexplotation.
> I guess you have never heard of Sexplotation. <
It’s an evil thing. And it most definitely exists. But it’s not an inevitable result of a minor being on the Internet. On the other hand, alcohol use by minors almost always leads to trouble.
So society must draw a line. The government controls alcohol use. But I believe Internet use should be controlled by the parents.
Some government officials want to control the Internet merely to centralize power. That’s not happening here. I get that.
If this passes it will not be long before you have to give the FR your identification with real name, address, and ID # to come view the FR.
Read #25. The FR and all interactive websites including your Church groups are considered “Social Media”.
The powers that be will be collecting real names and addresses of all Conservatives and Christians to put on a “Domestic Terrorist” list. The whole internet will no longer be “Anonymous”. This is a Communist China concept being put into action right here and it is not at all about the children. Anyone who believes this is just about the children is an absolute fool.
“I guess you have never heard of Sexplotation.”
If you believe this is about the Children you are a fool. This is in effect an internet drivers license and identification program. The use the excuse of children, but that is not what it is really for. It is to identify everyone, where they post, and who and what ideology they associate with. It will completely end all possible anonymity. It will be exactly what Nikki Haley proposed for the internet.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.