Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Monday that will prohibit children younger than 14 from joining social media in the state. Those who are 14 or 15 will need a parent’s consent before they join a platform.
The bill, HB3, also directs social media companies to delete the existing accounts of those who are under 14. Companies that fail to do so could be sued on behalf of the child who creates an account on the platform. The minor could be awarded up to $10,000 in damages, according to the bill. Companies found to be in violation of the law would also be liable for up to $50,000 per violation, as well as attorney’s fees and court costs.
“Ultimately, [we’re] trying to help parents navigate this very difficult terrain that we have now with raising kids, and so I appreciate the work that’s been put in,” DeSantis said in remarks during the bill-signing ceremony.
Most of them are already 13+, so really this is only extending that by 1 year. It’s performative. Also he’s going to make everyone under 14 want to create accounts now just in hopes that the company doesn’t delete it and they can sue for their $10k.
I wonder what qualifies as ‘social media’. Is a Steam account ‘social media’? Its social features tick most of the boxes.
I wonder what qualifies as ‘social media’. Is a Steam account ‘social media’? Its social features tick most of the boxes.
I linked to the text in a top-level comment.
“Social media platform” means an online forum, website, or application that satisfies each of the following criteria:
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Allows users to upload content or view the content or activity of other users;
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Ten percent or more of the daily active users who are younger than 16 years of age spend on average 2 hours per day or longer on the online forum, website, or application on the days when using the online forum, website, or application during the previous 12 months or, if the online forum, website, or application did not exist during the previous 12 months, during the previous month;
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Employs algorithms that analyze user data or information on users to select content for users; and
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Has any of the following addictive features:
a. Infinite scrolling, which means either:
(I) Continuously loading content, or content that loads as the user scrolls down the page without the need to open a separate page; or
(II) Seamless content, or the use of pages with no visible or apparent end or page breaks.
b. Push notifications or alerts sent by the online forum, website, or application to inform a user about specific activities or events related to the user’s account.
c. Displays personal interactive metrics that indicate the number of times other users have clicked a button to indicate their reaction to content or have shared or reposted the content.
d. Auto-play video or video that begins to play without the user first clicking on the video or on a play button for that video.
e. Live-streaming or a function that allows a user or advertiser to broadcast live video content in real-time.
The term does not include an online service, website, or application where the exclusive function is e-mail or direct messaging consisting of text, photographs, pictures, images, or videos shared only between the sender and the recipients, without displaying or posting publicly or to other users not specifically identified as the recipients by the sender.
I think that Criterion 2 is going to limit the practical impact of the law. The burden of the proof will be on the plaintiff, so they’re going to have to prove what a percentage of the userbase under a certain age is doing, and I don’t see as how even the social media company is going to know with great certainty what the age of its userbase is, much less a plaintiff.
Does this mean that Lemmy is not social media because it’s not ranking content with an algorithm?
I guess it depends on the definition of algorithm is as just sorting by newest is a type of algorithm.
So nearly everything. Got it.
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Is Roblox social media? Or Scratch?
Oh man I had forgotten about scratch. So much time spent there in middle school and high school classes. Still kinda surprised I wasn’t a CS major.
FL: the new world of the subversive state. That’s what he’s creating.
The party of “small government”
Don’t worry, left folks can get their kicks in as well while banning tiktok! Because banning foreign media will never ever be used against us! Everyone can have a small piece of fascism at this party!
I’d be willing to bet that most liberals realize that banning TikTok is not the solution. The real solution is comprehensive privacy and data protection laws that all companies operating in the US have to follow.
But maybe that’s too nuanced for you.
Think hard about why a fascist would want to keep teenagers from accessing information
That and he’s taking away any social support for kids that may not have any irl.
Ohhhhh. I was wondering why fascists would care about this. Preventing LGBTQ+ kids from accessing support structures sounds like a bingo.
We’ll the main thing is to keep them ignorant, so he’s killing one bird with two stones.
They want gay kids to kill themselves. They’re bad people and we need to stop pretending otherwise
:<
How does not having a social media account keep people away from information? You can browse most social media sites without an account, and most actual information is hosted on other sites anyways.
I don’t have social media and most links to Facebook, Twitter… MANY sites… redirect straight to a login page.
Your DGAF always-logged-in xp is not indicative of the population who don’t use those services…
Some sites are like that, sure ( I also don’t have accounts on any of those though), but once again, social media sites rarely host actual information itself. Certainly not important information at least.
Except that most support groups use mainstream social media to coordinate. Just because the information isn’t important to you, doesn’t mean it isn’t important for someone else.
As someone who does not have Meta or X or Tiktok, I can confirm that you absolutely need an account to access most everything. Even Reddit seems to be going down that road.
How will they enforce this. By asking for ID. So YOU and ME can be tracked and harassed for being different than them.
You mean like everyone voting to ban tiktok?
Ah so it’s not even a criminal law. It allows a civil suit just like the Texas abortion harassment law. Fuck you desantis. And fuck Florida for electing him.
Man, I sure do hope a bunch of 14 and 15 years don’t end up joining all those conservative social media sites. Just think, getting sued when your company is already failing, we would be real bad news for investors.
Don’t social media prevent 13 year olds and under from signing up anyway? They ask for your age but it doesn’t seem to keep kids from lying about their age and going on facebook, instagram, twitter, TikTok, etc, regardless. That’s disregarding the idea that a child could just use their parent’s account. What’s the enforcement besides the honor system and a vague threat of being sued? I am failing to see a difference between the state of things now and what that bill wants to introduce.
My thoughts exactly. This will change nothing. But he can say he’s saving children from big nasty corporations when he’s up for election.
I like the idea of protecting children from algorithms that make you addicted and lead to doom-scrolling. But you don’t to that by restricting the individual, but by restricting the corporations.
“Ultimately, [we’re] trying to help parents navigate this very difficult terrain that we have now with raising kids, and so I appreciate the work that’s been put in,” DeSantis said in remarks during the bill-signing ceremony.
Looks like
youth detentionresidential schools are next on his agenda.All they want to is ro remove anonymity on social media so they can target the people who are different.
I wholeheartedly believe childrens should not be on the internet unsupervised but that is the parents responsibility not mine. I don’t want to have to give up my Rights just so they can track and harass the black dude or the trans person they hate.
They’ve been pushing this shit for over a decade. SOPA, PIPA, etc… It has nothing to do with children.
If they actually cared, they would fight for fare wages, worker rights, and cut worker hours so families can actually spend time together.
More than one thing can be true at once, you know? It’s probably a combination of reasons, none legitimate.
Democrats pass COPA … Republicans scream gov overreach.
Republicans pass basically same law… This is good for American morality
There can’t possibly be anyone that still believes the GOP is for small government and freedoms right?
You seem to forget just how vehemently stupid the average American is.
I’m not familiar with Florida’s legislative browser, but I’d guess that this is it:
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/3/?Tab=BillText
And that this is the final version:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children’s_Online_Privacy_Protection_Act
Introduced by a Democrat and passed by a Democrat President.
“Although children under 13 can legally give out personal information with their parents’ permission, many websites—particularly social media sites, but also other sites that collect most personal info—disallow children under 13 from using their services altogether due to the cost and work involved in complying with the law.”
Are you saying the Florida law is redundant?
That’s my impression. The difference is being officially forced to hunt down those accounts instead of them doing it themselves because they don’t want the hassle of dealing with COPPA. Not creating accounts for those who are younger than 13 is already a thing. The real problem is parents are typically creating these accounts. I keep telling them not to do that and every time they ignore me.
Dinesh ran into this exact issue, while Gilfoyle laughed.
Oh man, that’ll be sure to stop them.
