Student Well-Being

New Florida Law Aims to Get Kids Off Social Media. Will It Work?

By Lauraine Langreo — March 27, 2024 5 min read
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks during a press conference at the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District headquarters at Walt Disney World, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Feb. 22, 2024. Florida will have one of the country's most restrictive social media bans for minors — if it withstands expected legal challenges — under a bill signed by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on March 25, 2024.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Florida will have one of the country’s most restrictive social media bans for minors under a bill signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on March 25.

The law, which will take effect on Jan. 1, prohibits social media platforms from allowing children younger than 14 to have an account. For 14- and 15-year-olds, social media platforms must require parental permission before allowing them to set up accounts.

Addressing adolescents’ worsening mental health recently has become a top priority for school, district, state, and federal leaders as young people struggle with record-high rates of depression and anxiety.

Much of the conversation around the mental health crisis has focused on young people’s constant use of cellphones and social media. Some states, including Florida, already ban or are considering banning cellphones in classrooms. More than 200 districts have sued major social media companies over the youth mental health crisis.

“We dug into the research showing the negative effects of social media on children, and it directly pointed to the addictive features these companies develop to keep our kids hooked,” Florida House Speaker Paul Renner said in an email statement to Education Week.

Florida’s social media ban doesn’t target specific platforms. Instead, the bill says that the law applies to any platform where at least 10 percent of daily active users are children younger than 16 who use it for two hours or more a day; that uses “addictive” features, such as infinite scrolling; and that uses algorithms that analyze user data to handpick content for users.

Most social media platforms already state in their policies that children younger than 13 aren’t allowed to create accounts. But the law requires these platforms to actually verify the age of its users. It leaves it up to the companies to determine how to meet the requirements. If a social media platform is found in violation, the state Department of Legal Affairs may fine the platform up to $50,000 per violation. Parents or caregivers could also file lawsuits against the platforms.

See Also

Custom illustration showing a young female student floating above a cell phone while in a protective bubble that looks like a split happy and sad emoji. Digital and techie textures applied to the background.
Taylor Callery for Education Week

Similar bans in other states have run into legal issues

Arkansas, California, Ohio, and Utah passed similar bans last year on kids using social media, but none of those laws has taken effect yet because of legal issues. Federal judges have stopped the legislation from taking effect over concerns that the bans violate kids’ free speech rights and that age verifications are unconstitutional.

Renner said during the bill signing that he expects social media companies to file lawsuits, but he’s confident the state will beat them, the Associated Press reported.

Carl Szabo, the vice president and general counsel for NetChoice, called the law “unconstitutional,” because it “infringes on Floridians’ First Amendment rights,” in an email statement to Education Week.

It’s “bad policy because of the data collection on Floridians by online services it will in effect require. This will put their private data at risk of breach,” Szabo added.

NetChoice is a trade association of online businesses that advocate free expression and free enterprise on the internet. It includes TikTok, Meta (the parent company of Instagram and Facebook), and Snap (the parent company of Snapchat). The organization has filed lawsuits against similar legislation in Arkansas, California, and Utah.

The Florida law has a contingency plan to put in motion if a court decides to prohibit the enforcement of the section that requires parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to use social media. It says in that case, the law will just prohibit anyone 15 years old or younger from using social media.

“It almost seems like they [the state] were preemptively punishing [anyone who tries to file a lawsuit], saying ‘All right, if you won’t give us this, we’re going to be even stricter,’” said Amelia Vance, the president of the Public Interest Privacy Center, which advocates effective, ethical, and equitable privacy safeguards for all children and students.

See Also

Illustration of woman surrounded by different emojis.
iStock / Getty Images Plus

‘We just don’t know’ if bans work

Vance is skeptical that Florida’s ban will make children safer online. Kids will find ways around these restrictions if they really want to be on those platforms, she said.

“The approach that is most likely going to be effective here is the one that says, ‘OK, kids are going to be online. Let’s give them special protections when they are,” Vance said. The state’s “Digital Bill of Rights,” which passed last year and takes effect in July, would probably be more effective because it puts in place protections around what data can be collected and places limits around how the data can be used, she said.

Kris Perry, the executive director of Children and Screens, a nonprofit organization that seeks to understand and address the implications of digital media on child development, said a ban “will protect kids from the harms related to social media,” but it will also prevent them from “accessing the benefits.”

“It’d be really important to study whether or not the ban accomplished its intended goal,” Perry said. “We just don’t know, without studying the aftereffects of whether that was an effective strategy.”

In Florida, the statewide ban on students using cellphones during instructional time that went into effect last year has had a positive impact in some schools on student behavior and learning, according to Renner.

“We are hopeful that steering kids toward the real world and away from a warped digital world will result in even more positive outcomes [for student learning],” Renner said in the statement to Education Week.

See Also

As part of a SEL lesson, 6th grade students at Swope Middle School in Reno, Nev., practice online safety measures.
As part of a social-emotional-learning lesson, 6th graders practice online safety measures at Swope Middle School in Reno, Nev., on March 19, 2024.
Emily Najera for Education Week

Equipping students with the right skills

For students, the focus shouldn’t be on restriction, said Ava Havidic, 18, a senior at Millennium 6-12 Collegiate Academy in Broward County, Fla.

“When you ban things or when you restrict things, sometimes, it’s going to be like a green light for students to say, ‘OK, how can I override that? How can I find my way to use it still?’” said Ava, who serves as a student adviser for the Broward County school board.

The focus should instead be on “explaining why it’s important to limit usage” and “formulating a mindset at a young age so they can learn how to use it correctly,” she said.

Kids will become adults, and they’re going to be using these platforms, and if we limit their use and don’t teach them the right way to use it, “they’re not going to be prepared,” she added.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Personalized Learning Webinar
Personalized Learning in the STEM Classroom
Unlock the power of personalized learning in STEM! Join our webinar to learn how to create engaging, student-centered classrooms.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Student Well-Being Webinar
Students Speak, Schools Thrive: The Impact of Student Voice Data on Achievement
Research shows that when students feel heard, their outcomes improve. Join us to learn how to capture student voice data & create positive change in your district.
Content provided by Panorama Education
School & District Management Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: How Can We ‘Disagree Better’? A Roadmap for Educators
Experts in conflict resolution, psychology, and leadership skills offer K-12 leaders skills to avoid conflict in challenging circumstances.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Student Well-Being How Free School Meals Became an Issue Animating the 2024 Election
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has highlighted his state's law to provide free school meals to all students as he campaigns for vice president.
6 min read
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz gets a huge hug from students at Webster Elementary after he signed into law a bill that guarantees free school meals, (breakfast and lunch) for every student in Minnesota's public and charter schools in Minneapolis, on March 17, 2023.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz gets a hug from students at Webster Elementary School in Minneapolis on March 17, 2023, after he signed into law a bill that guarantees free school meals for every student in Minnesota's public and charter schools. Free school meals have become a campaign issue since Walz was named Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate on the Democratic ticket.
Elizabeth Flores/Minneapolis Star Tribune via TNS
Student Well-Being Teen Substance Use Is Declining, But More Dangerous Drug Abuse Is Emerging
There are rising concerns about teens' access to more lethal drugs such as fentanyl.
3 min read
Person being helped from a pill bottle by a healthcare provider
iStock/Getty
Student Well-Being Interactive How Gen Z Feels About Life and the Future, in Charts
In a new survey, what Gen Z students plan to do after high school has a lot to do with how they feel about their lives and their futures.
3 min read
Illustration from the perspective of a person's feet on a single path with multiple pathways in front of them leading to different doors.
iStock/Getty
Student Well-Being Opinion Why Cellphone Bans Aren't the Cure for Student Anxiety
Simple solutions can’t solve a complex problem. Here’s what we need to do instead.
Tom Moore
5 min read
A silhouette figure looks at their phone, glitch neon transparent effect action stance photo over subtle motherboard maze
iStock/Getty + Education Week