Florida may pass laws to protect kids from online porn, social media

Florida lawmakers are considering new laws that aim to keep children away from sexually explicit websites and harmful social media posts, joining a movement gaining momentum in state capitals across the country.

One proposal (HB 1) would restrict access to social media platforms for anyone under age 16. Another measure (HB 3) would require pornography websites to verify that visitors are 18 years or older.

Other states have passed similar bills in recent years. Those new laws are being litigated.

Florida House Speaker Paul Renner said he wants to combat digital addiction that he thinks have created mental health issues, bullying and other problems for youths.

“We have to regulate social media in a meaningful way because our kids’ lives depend on it,” he said last month during an appearance at the Capital Tiger Bay Club in Tallahassee.

Renner, R-Palm Coast, also expressed concerns about unfettered access to online pornography with no safeguards to block underage viewers.

“We’ve got think to about kids,” Renner said. “We tell them they … can’t smoke until they’re 18, they can’t get tattoos or earrings without their parents’ consent, all of these things. But an 8-year-old kid can get online and see pornography. … That doesn’t make sense. How do we let happen?”

What the bills do

HB 1 — sponsored by Reps. Tyler Sirois, R-Merritt Island, and Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota — would require social media companies to implement age-verification methods, prevent users under 16 from creating a new account and terminate existing underage accounts.

The bill defines social media platform as an outlet that allows users to “upload content or view the content or activity of other account holders” and “interact with or track other account holders or users.” That would include Facebook, Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter.

The bill includes numerous exceptions for email, direct messaging, news outlets, streaming services that provide “only licensed media” and other websites.

HB 3 — sponsored by Rep. Chase Tramont, R-Port Orange — would require sexually explicit websites with more than a third of content deemed to be harmful to minors to “perform reasonable age verification” using a third-party service.

Opponents cite concerns

Similar bills have met opposition in other states from Big Tech, the adult entertainment industry and civil liberties groups.

In 2022, Louisiana passed a law requiring adult websites to verify users are at least 18 years old by requiring digitized, state-issued driver’s licenses or other methods. Arkansas is requiring age verification and parental consent for children opening social media accounts.

Those efforts and similar laws passed in other states are being challenged in the courts.

Age-verification laws are problematic and introduce constitutional issues by burdening all users with having to prove their age to see legal content, said David Greene, senior staff attorney and civil liberties director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

“It’s an important right for an adult to be able to use the internet anonymously without their name attached to it,”  he said.

Florida’s proposal stipulates that personal identifying information should not be kept by age-verification services any longer “than is reasonably necessary to verify the age of the person.”

Pornhub, one of the most-visited websites on the internet, and other adult platforms have cut off access to residents of several states with age-verification laws.

Most recently, Pornhub disabled access in North Carolina, The News & Observer reported. Visitors were greeted with a message from adult performer Cherie DeVille that said, “while safety and compliance are at the forefront of our mission, giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform is not the most effective solution for protecting our users, and in fact, will put children and your privacy at risk.”

Opposing Arkansas’ social media law, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote that “individuals of all ages rely on social media for political speech, artistic expression, advocacy, access to the news, and more.”

Internet filters  

A third proposal (SB 1196/HB 1129) would require content filters to be turned on by default on tablets and smartphones. Parents would be given a pin to disable the filter if they choose, rather than having to set it up on their own, supporters said.

“There are parents handing their children $1,000 porn machines with no factory-set filters,” said Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, one of the bill’s sponsors. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can protect children.”

The bill also seeks to add criminal penalties for adults who engage in “hypersexualized” online discussions with children, which can be difficult to prosecute under existing laws, he said.

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, an anti-pornography organization, is championing default filters, which advocates say will pass constitutional muster.

Cellphones and tablets already come equipped with filters, but parents are often unaware of them and don’t know how to turn them on, said Benjamin Bull, general counsel for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.

The idea is to activate those filters when parents purchase a tablet or cellphone for their child or a minor purchases one on their own.

“This is an incremental level of protection,” Bull said. “It enables filters that block online platforms that do nothing but pump out porn all the time. … It’s another tool in the hands of the parents while not blocking access to the same material for adults who choose to look at it.”

But Greene, the civil liberties advocate, said the filters could pose problems by automatically blocking legitimate content with no agreed-upon definition of what would constitute harmful material.

The definition in Florida law of “harmful to minors” is anything “depicting nudity, sexual conduct, or sexual excitement when it: predominantly appeals to a prurient, shameful, or morbid interest; is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material or conduct for minors; and taken as a whole, is without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.”

The legislation empowers the attorney general to enforce the provisions with fines of up to $50,000 per violation plus investigative expenses. The attorney general could seek to revoke the manufacturer’s license to do business in Florida.

Parents could also sue and recover up to $50,000 per violation. The bill stipulates that only a parent or legal guardian can disable a child’s filter with fines and penalties for violators.

Lawmakers start their 60-day session on Tuesday.