On Mar. 25, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis officially signed into law a social media ban for minors, which will go into effect in 2025. All children under 14 are no longer permitted to have social media, while 14 to 15-year-olds are required to get parental permission.

All pre-existing, underage social media accounts will be deleted; however, account holders will have 90 days to dispute the termination. Parents will also be allowed to request account deletions, which must be honored within five days. If platforms fail to comply with the deletion of these accounts, they could face fines of up to $10,000. 

“A child in their brain development doesn’t have the ability to know that they’re being sucked into these addictive technologies and to see the harm and step away from it, and because of that we have to step in for them,” Republican Speaker Paul Renner said.

Initially, the state’s Republican legislation had attempted to pass a bill that banned anyone under 16 from having social media entirely, but DeSantis vetoed the bill. He said that it would have limited the parents’ rights. 

“Social media harms children in various ways,” DeSantis said in a statement. The legislation works to “give parents a greater ability to protect their children.”

Those who oppose the bill have argued that its passing violates the First Amendment’s protections of free speech, as the parents should be able to make this decision, not the government.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has opposed the legislation stating that it raises user data concerns. Now users will have to supply information to verify their age. 

Specific platforms that the bill will be applied to have not yet been named, but it is said that it will be platforms that promote “infinite scrolling,” display reaction metrics, including auto-play videos and provide live-streaming and push notifications.

The measure will also require social media companies to permanently delete the personal information collected from the underage accounts.

In March of 2023, Utah was the first state to enact regulations on social media. Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio and Texas followed soon after. Legislative analysis had predicted Florida following soon after, along with several other states, one being California.