Florida Governor Ron DeSantis protects children from dangerous predators and inappropriate online content by passing social media account ban for all minors under 14 years old.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has taken the lead in protecting minors from dangerous predators and inappropriate online content by signing HB3 into law on March 25, 2024, banning young children under 14 years old from opening their own social media accounts. This helps save young children from being exposed to dangerous online predators, inappropriate content, cyberbullying, financial scams, and causes of mental health problems common to today’s children.

Social media use has exploded since the advent of the modern smartphone. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, and other social media sites have a combined total of approximately 5 billion users out of 8 billion people worldwide in 2024. Owners of social media sites are primarily focused on having users use the site longer in order to generate more advertising revenue even if the site causes addiction and harm, as revealed with Facebook through internal documents.

Unfortunately, rates of youth depression, cyberbullying, and extortion have increased with the spread of social media use, and the U.S. Surgeon General strongly warns, “Children and adolescents who spend more than 3 hours a day on social media face double the risk of mental health problems including experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety.” Young children cannot easily break away from addictive behavior, whether that be playing video games, eating junk food, or using social media.

The Florida law specifically prevents those under 14 from becoming an account owner and allows parents to decide whether children 14 to 15 years old can do so. Additionally, the law requires explicit websites to verify the age of users and protects the anonymity of Florida residents while online. The law does not address other means criminals can reach children by, such as texts, emails, and phone calls.

Parents worried about their children should start reading about problems created by social media and ways to counter online threats while monitoring online use closely and setting strict use limits. Children should be trained to recognize and report all dangerous and inapproriate communications to their parents, teachers, or police.