TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Republican state legislators in Florida have incorporated a copycat age verification bill, introduced by a pastor and based on other laws championed by religious conservatives across the country, into a larger bill that aims to prevent anyone under 16 from using certain social media platforms.
The larger bill, HB 1, is a priority of Republican House Speaker Paul Renner, who claims social media is “harming the mental health of children,” the Graham Media Group’s Orlando news site reported.
HB 1 “would prevent children under 16 from creating accounts on at least some social media platforms; require platforms to terminate existing accounts that they know or have ‘reason to believe’ are held by minors younger than 16; and allow parents to request that minors’ accounts be terminated,” the Graham Orlando news site reported.
In the course of revamping HB 1, the Republican-dominated Senate committee combined it with HB 3, a separate age verification bill previously passed by the House. HB 3 was introduced by Rep. Chase Tramont, a politician and ordained clergyman who serves as pastor at Oceanway Church in New Smyrna Beach.
The updated version of HB 1 passed the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee by a vote of 12-5 with 11 Republican votes and one Democratic supporter, Sen. Rosalind Osgood, who stated, “I believe that we have to do something to protect our kids. I believe we were wrong to just turn our kids over to social media.”
Democratic Sen. Shevrin Jones voted against the bill, asserting, “It is not the Legislature’s job to parent the parents in how they parent.”
Even two of the Republicans who voted for the bill, Sen. Jay Collins and Sen. Jay Trumbull, expressed concern about governmental overreach trumping parental rights.
Collins stated that he was “very torn on this bill,” before ultimately falling in line with his fellow Republicans.
Dangerous and Unconstitutional
As XBIZ reported, earlier this week, Florida-based First Amendment expert Lawrence Walters, of Walters Law Group, wrote to the members of the Florida Senate Judiciary Committee on behalf of his client, the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, opposing HB 3, the age verification bill.
Woodhull described HB 3 as “not only unconstitutional and a danger to consumer privacy, but ineffective at preventing minors from accessing adult content.”
Walters advised the committee, “Parental controls and device-level filters are effective tools if parents and schools are willing to use them. This technology not only puts power where it should be — in the hands of parents and caregivers — it is widely available, fully supported by industry, and endorsed by the Supreme Court.”
Walters added that bills that severely impact First Amendment rights deserve serious consideration and debate.
“We ask that you veto HB 3, and direct the legislature to work with technology companies, privacy experts and affected communities to find an effective solution,” he concluded.
After Thursday’s committee hearing, Walters told XBIZ, “This latest effort to combine the social media restrictions with adult website age verification obligations represents an overreach by the nanny state, substituting itself for the role of parents in deciding what material is appropriate for their consumption by minors of varying ages. The two bills raise very different issues and should be considered as independent pieces of legislation. Lumping the bills together represents a cynical attempt to create a ‘must pass’ piece of legislation without reasoned debate on separate topics.”