Techbacked Campaign Demands Lawmakers Fix Social Media Ban By Empowering Parents
A new digital advertising campaign points to the ban on social networks for minors approved by the Chamber of Deputies. And it is powered by Meta Platforms, the country's leading social media company.
The ads began running this weekend in response to the Citizen Awareness Project (CAP) call to "fix HB 1." The campaign website was launched on Monday with the message "Empowering Parents".
(Note: Digital campaign contains ads for Florida politics.)
"Parents know best, not the government," the website says "Social media reform must ensure parental consent and give parents the tools they need to ensure healthy social media practices."
HB 1 , a priority this year for House Speaker Paul Renner, would prohibit any Florida resident under the age of 16 from opening or maintaining a social media account. The House bill does not allow for parental input on the matter.
"There is no parental consent to take your child to a casino," Rep. Tyler Sirois, R-Merritt Island, said when introducing the bill in the House.
If the bill becomes written law, it would be the first social media ban in the country to prevent minors from following parental requests.
But other states have passed laws requiring age verification for users and restrictions for minors NetChoice filed a lawsuit in Utah against the ban.
Governor Ron DeSantis also questioned the bill on the CAP website. "I also understand that a 15-year-old can't get it anyway, even if the parents agree, it could create some legal issues," he said at a news conference in Kissimmee in January .
A new campaign says the law goes too far.
"While Florida lawmakers may have good intentions to protect our children, this law represents an extreme assault on parental control by the government," CAP's website says. "Supporters of the bill say it's a 'common sense' bill." But ignoring parental consent is not uncommon.
Meta supported the campaign somewhat. Tech companies have three main platforms (Facebook, Instagram and Threads) that must be accessible to everyone, according to the definition of social media and children, according to the new draft bill.
Metalbis sent a letter to lawmakers earlier this year calling for a different approach to regulating children's interactions with social media platforms. Downloading social media software to devices from the App Store requires parental consent The letter was signed by Calder Harvill-Childs, Mater Public Policy Manager for the Southeast United States.
"In compliance, our federal law requires parental consent at the App Store level for children under 16 to download apps. This approach allows parents to ensure that teens are not using adult content or apps, and also allows parents to monitor can monitor and approve their children's online activity in one place, without requiring them to track each app using separate consent procedures for teens to use,” the letter said.
"Furthermore, the App Store solution helps protect privacy by limiting the collection of sensitive identifying information such as government IDs. Instead, the approach uses the parental approval system for purchases currently offered by the App Store, meaning parents and teens do not need the government to With thousands of apps that need to share identifying or other personal information.
The company is pushing for a similar approach at the federal level and hopes to avoid different laws affecting different online platforms in different states.
Meta officials also expressed concern that the law currently shapes some platforms, such as Snapchat, that are primarily used for personal communication. Please note that the same language is used in the free WhatsApp meta product.
A Senate bill to ban social media ( SB 1788 ) is under consideration in the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee.
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