Florida Children May Lose Access to Social Media This Year

By Christian Roldan

Gov. Ron DeSantis holding up the signed HB 3 on Monday, March 25, 2024, at Cornerstone Classical Academy in Jacksonville (Image credit: Will Brown, Jacksonville Today).

Once the clock struck midnight and we entered 2025, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and X disappeared for nearly 3.5 million Florida children. The brand-new legislation prohibits social media access for children under 14. Or so we thought. It is far more complicated than that and won’t be enforced until late February at the earliest, despite being passed as a law. 

The law is touted as a way to protect children, but critics have challenged it and in doing so, have delayed the process. But first, it’s important to break down the details of HB3. 

House Bill 3: Online Protection for Minors, what does it say?

The law permits the use of social media sites by children aged 14 and 15 with parental consent. When a child turns 16, they can legally use these websites without parental consent. Social media websites began to terminate the accounts of children under the age of 14, with 90 days to challenge the termination. The obvious question that arises is how will these websites enforce this, the law specifies that these websites will have to rely on third-party age verification methods on new accounts. Additionally, the law specifies penalties for websites that do not comply, or recklessly enforce the new rule, with up to $50,000 per violation. 

But one may ask, what is a social media website anyway? With all of the interactive and communicative nature of websites and apps nowadays, where does a website/service become a social media website? HB3 lays out specific guidelines as to what makes a website a social media site: 

• Users can upload content or view the content or activity of other users

• 10% or more of the daily active users who are younger than 16 spend an average of two hours a day or longer

• The site uses algorithms to analyze user data or user information and select what users will see

• Any of the following "addictive features" are used:

• Infinite scrolling (content that continuously loads without the need to move to refresh or move to a new page

• Push notifications or alerts about specific activities or events related to the user

• Displays of user likes, shared or reposted metrics

• Video that plays without users clicking on it

• Livestreaming

Despite not naming a single website in the bill, it is clear it covers a wide range of websites and sites like TikTok and Instagram will certainly be affected.

Phone screen containing social media apps (Unsplash | MGN).

It is worth mentioning that HB3 also introduced a separate measure, and that is requiring age verification for content that is “harmful to minors,” including sexual content, to prevent access from anyone under the age of 18 from accessing those websites. Which has already gone into effect on websites like PornHub.

Potential problems

Despite its overwhelming, bi-partisan support from state legislators when it was signed into law last year by Governor Ron DeSantis.The intentions behind this new law can be described as caring and protective, it is simple, to protect children from accessing websites and content that could be damaging and harmful. It’s in the bill’s name, the "Online Protections for Minors." 

However, it is being challenged in the courts right now and it’s delaying the new restrictions. Critics have stated the measures are too strong and overstep boundaries, not allowing parents to have control over the matter themselves, putting it simply, government overreach. Others criticize the viability of the measures, calling into question whether social media sites can and would regulate and enforce age restrictions, considering how difficult it would be in a digital environment. An additional factor is the potential data risk that is involved with age verification, it will put Floridians' data at risk of a potential breach.

No one is calling into question the idea of protecting children, but given how attached children are to social media, and its role in their own social life. This is supported by data as 95% of children aged 13 to 17 use social media according to a 2023 survey conducted by The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory. Could the new measures be too intense, and at what point is it up to the parent to monitor their child’s activity online? 

Several other states had passed similar laws, in states like Ohio, Arkansas, Utah, and California, but they have all been blocked by lawsuits and challenges in the court, due to claims of First Amendment Violations. This could also happen here in Florida, only time will tell. It is an ongoing case and could get more complicated and interesting as time goes on depending on the judge's ruling on a motion for a preliminary injunction.