TAMPA, Fla. — It's no secret that billions of people use social media every day, but what so many of us don't always think about is that kids are part of that group of users.
In February of 2023, Florida lawmakers introduced a bill to protect kids online.
House Bill 591 included making kids read a mandatory warning about the dangers of social media every time they log in. It also required social media platforms to disclose any practices that could harm kids and threatened to fine them if they broke the rules.
But that bill died in a committee in May.
In the fall of 2023, lawmakers took another crack. They reintroduced revamped versions—House Bill 207 and Senate Bill 454.
The Senate version—among other things—requires platforms to verify a user's age, moderate adult interactions with kids, and develop strategies to keep kids from being exposed to porn or abusive content. It would also allow parents to set boundaries on where their kids can use these apps through geofencing.
ABC Action News sat down with attorney Stan Gipe, with Dolman Law Group, to talk through these new bills.
"What this law attempts to do is start to draw the line on what reasonable measures are. What do you need to do as a social media company to be responsible?" he asked.
Gipe told us these versions also aim to put more power into the hands of parents.
"As a parent, you watch these things, but now you have the ability to geofence, right? You've got the ability to make sure your son is not out somewhere getting on social media, talking to these people [and] interacting with them where you've got no say," he said.
But how enforceable are these laws?
According to Gipe, as they currently stand, these bills will need some finessing to ensure social media platforms take these rules seriously.
"So we have to figure out, and there has to be meaningful penalties because if there's no meaningful penalties, then there's no real enforcement," he said.
If passed, these bills would take effect in July.
