{"id":2206883,"date":"2024-03-26T18:39:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T22:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/florida-bans-children-from-social-media\/"},"modified":"2024-03-26T18:42:29","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T22:42:29","slug":"florida-bans-children-from-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/florida-bans-children-from-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida prohibits minors from accessing social media platforms"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fflorida-bans-children-from-social-media%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2206883&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Florida bill\u2064 prohibits children under 14 \u200dfrom having \u2062<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sickening-video-shows-antifa-allegedly-stab-4-trump-supporters-in-washington-dc\/\" title=\"Sickening Video Shows Antifa Allegedly Stab 4 Trump Supporters in Washington DC\">social media accounts<\/a>, requiring parental permission\u200c for 14-15-year-olds.\u200b It \u2062focuses\u2063 on banning platforms with addictive features targeting minors, aiming to\u2062 protect children from harmful online influences without granting sweeping\u200d regulatory \u2064powers. The law addresses concerns about children&#8217;s online safety while avoiding \u200bexcessive government intervention in internet usage.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Legislation that would ban TikTok in the United States (unless its Chinese owner divests from the company) is currently making its way through the Senate. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s still not clear what\u2019s going to happen to that bill. It overwhelmingly <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/senate-tiktok-ban-lobbying-congress-china-a340cf30b05343816380793af1c5d186\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">passed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the House by hundreds of votes, but it appears to be significantly less <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/senate-tiktok-ban-lobbying-congress-china-a340cf30b05343816380793af1c5d186\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">popular<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the upper chamber. That\u2019s true, in no small part, because the most intense lobbying campaign in recent memory is underway to kill the legislation. A lot of very powerful interests don\u2019t want to see this ban pass.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">That\u2019s not to say there aren\u2019t reasonable arguments on both sides of the issue. On one hand, TikTok is unquestionably toxic for both kids and adults. Pretty much everyone who uses TikTok very quickly drops several IQ points and learns how to twerk \u2014 at least in the U.S., where the algorithm is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/video\/6309696840112\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">fine-tuned<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for that express purpose. It\u2019s also a spy app under the control of a hostile foreign power that\u2019s transmitting all sorts of data we don\u2019t know about. These are serious problems.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On the other hand, there are obviously legitimate concerns about empowering the U.S. government to remove entire platforms from the Internet. Even though the bill, as it\u2019s written, only applies to platforms that are \u201ccontrolled\u201d by foreign entities, you have to wonder how far that limitation can be stretched. We all just lived through several years of hysteria about Russian \u201ccontrol\u201d of the White House. And every other significant new power that the government has been given to combat foreign enemies has eventually been used against the government\u2019s domestic political opponents. So it\u2019s hard to be reassured that, given this vast new authority to ban the most <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-admin-indefinitely-suspends-trump-tiktok-deal\/\" title=\"Biden Admin \u2018Indefinitely\u2019 Suspends Trump TikTok Deal\">popular social media app<\/a> on the planet, that the government wouldn\u2019t at least try to ban, say, Twitter \u2014 which is far more inconvenient for them.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/episode\/ep-1333-member-exclusive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">That\u2019s why legislation that was just signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida is so significant. It hasn\u2019t gotten much attention, but it should, because it addresses the legitimate concerns about apps like TikTok, without granting the government any kind of sweeping new, unprecedented powers to regulate the lives of American citizens. Instead, it regulates the behavior of children in a manner that\u2019s consistent with all sorts of other regulations that already apply to minors. Watch:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">So generally speaking, under this bill, children under the age of 14 can\u2019t have social media accounts. And 14 and 15-year-olds will need permission from their parents to have a social media account. The bill is set to take effect at the beginning of next year, although as you heard, there are undoubtedly going to be legal challenges on First Amendment grounds. Several months ago, a federal judge blocked a similar law in Arkansas, which <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/arkansas-social-media-parents-consent-kids-64db48ec94517911a4d2498f60841500\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">banned<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> minors from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rikki-schlott-how-tiktok-has-become-a-dangerous-breeding-ground-for-mental-disorders\/\" title=\"Rikki Schlott: How TikTok Has Become a Dangerous Breeding Ground for Mental Disorders\">creating social media accounts<\/a> without parental consent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2024\/3\/BillText\/er\/PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Florida bill<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is meaningfully different from the legislation that was struck down in Arkansas. It\u2019s important to get into the specifics, because as we\u2019ve learned, the media will misrepresent the substance of every Florida bill they possibly can. So here are the details.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This Florida bill is not a blanket ban on any particular app. Instead, it\u2019s focused on banning apps that have particular features which are designed to keep children on the app at all times. In order to fall under this ban, according to the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2024\/3\/BillText\/er\/PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">text<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of the legislation, the app must have one of the following \u201caddictive features\u201d: <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(1) Infinite scrolling, which the bill defines as \u201ccontinuously loading content, or content that loads as the user scrolls down the page without the need to open a separate page\u201d; (2) Push notifications or alerts \u201cto inform a user about specific activities or events related to the user\u2019s account\u201d; or (3) \u201cAuto-play video or video that begins to play without the user first clicking on the video or on a play button for that video.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are a couple of other features that are singled out in the bill, but those are the big ones. Live-streaming is also banned.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In other words, TikTok can create a version of its app for minors that complies with these restrictions, and it wouldn\u2019t be banned. The point of the law isn\u2019t to ban content per se \u2014 it\u2019s to regulate how much of it is being exposed to children. That\u2019s a significant distinction, because there\u2019s a lot of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/healthmatters.nyp.org\/how-social-media-use-affects-adolescent-brain-development\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">evidence<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that these addictive features rewire the brains of children. The journal World Psychiatry recently <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC6502424\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">published<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> an analysis which found that,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The primary hypothesis on how the Internet affects our attentional capacities is through hyperlinks, notifications, and prompts providing a limitless stream of different forms of digital media, thus encouraging us to interact with multiple inputs simultaneously.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These are the kind of notifications that are specifically banned in the Florida bill. And there\u2019s more research along these lines. Researchers at UNC, for example, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unc.edu\/posts\/2023\/01\/03\/study-shows-habitual-checking-of-social-media-may-impact-young-adolescents-brain-development\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">found<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2026checking social media repeatedly among young teens ages 12 to 13 may be associated with changes in how their brains develop over a three-year period.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In their analysis, which was published in JAMA Pediatrics, the UNC researchers specifically determined that,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The brains of adolescents who checked social media often \u2013 more than 15 times per day, became more sensitive to social feedback.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There\u2019s much more research on this point, but intuitively, we all know this is true. The social media companies know it too, which is why they have these kinds of features. Their goal is to rewire children\u2019s brains so that they seek positive social feedback from apps, instead of people. And that\u2019s concerning because, when their brains are developing, children are especially prone to falling into addictive behaviors that, once learned, can affect them for the rest of their lives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We are mentally and emotionally deforming entire generations of children, who do not know how to interact with the world, or pay attention to it, unless it is filtered through a tiny screen. This isn\u2019t just concerning, it\u2019s a crisis. It is impacting the future of our civilization. If we could look into a crystal ball and see what the world will look like 100 years from now because of this, it would probably terrify us so much that we would call for the ban of every social media company and every smartphone in existence. That\u2019s how bad it\u2019s going to get. I\u2019m not saying we <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">should<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> ban all of those things. I\u2019m simply saying that horrors beyond our comprehension await us, as we condition billions of people to be totally dependent \u2014 physically, mentally, emotionally \u2014 on a little screen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">And this is why we need to protect children in particular. We already protect them from all kinds of other toxic influences. We don\u2019t allow children to, say, gamble, smoke, or drink alcohol. We also already regulate how companies can engage with children on the Internet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There\u2019s something called the Children\u2019s Online Privacy Protection Act, for example. Among other things, that law <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/business-guidance\/resources\/complying-coppa-frequently-asked-questions#F.%20Photos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">requires<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that websites get <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/25\/business\/florida-social-media-ban-desantis.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">parental consent<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> before they allow children to post photos, videos, or audio recordings of themselves or any other identifying personal information. This law is the reason why <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/justice-thomas-suggests-section-230-may-be-unconstitutional\/\" title=\"Justice Thomas Suggests Section 230 May Be Unconstitutional\">major social media platforms<\/a>, including Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook already prohibit children under the age of 13 from using their platforms.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What Florida\u2019s law does is slightly expand limitations like this to social media platforms that are targeting young children.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In response to the Florida law, one of the most common counter arguments you\u2019ll hear is that children will just circumvent the ban, as they\u2019ve already circumvented the Children\u2019s Online Privacy Protection Act. All kids have to do right now is provide a fake birthdate, and they can make an Instagram account. But all this tells us is that the feds aren\u2019t concerned with enforcing the law. Florida is taking a different approach. And we\u2019ve already seen that, when states actually want to enforce these laws, they can get results. We saw that after various states passed laws requiring pornography websites to verify that their users aren\u2019t minors. Some users found a way around the ban by routing their web traffic to other states using a VPN service. Still, these services cost money on a monthly basis. They\u2019re not the easiest things for a 13-year-old to sign up for, at least not in most situations. That\u2019s why traffic to these pornography websites went down significantly, even though it was technically possible to break the law and circumvent the restriction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The other common counter argument you\u2019ll hear is that parents should be in charge of policing this sort of thing, not the government. And indeed, that\u2019s one of the major arguments that came up in Florida. It\u2019s why DeSantis vetoed another version of the legislation, which would\u2019ve prevented 14-year-olds from accessing these apps, even with parental consent. The final bill was a kind of compromise position, which addressed the concerns of the \u201cparental rights\u201d dissenters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the truth is that, although parents should be the ones policing their children\u2019s social media use, many parents don\u2019t. It\u2019s also true that parents should stop their kids from drinking alcohol or using tobacco products, but they don\u2019t all do that either. That\u2019s why we still have laws against those things. And most people don\u2019t think those laws should be repealed, for good reason.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What this means is that Florida, without much fanfare, has found a solution to the TikTok debate that has dominated Congress for the past several weeks. All we have to do is what we\u2019ve done before. It doesn\u2019t have to be complicated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We don\u2019t have to open the door to future government bans of Twitter or any other social media platform. We just need to do something that\u2019s fallen out of favor recently, which is to protect children from strangers on the Internet who want to abuse them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A bill in the Senate aims to ban TikTok in the US unless its Chinese owner divests, with uncertain prospects. While the House favored it by a wide margin, Senate support seems less certain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":305,"featured_media":2206884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1988103807.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2206883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1988103807.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2206883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2206884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2206883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2206883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2206883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}