Florida House of Representatives approves bill to ban social media for kids under 16
Florida House of Representatives approves bill to ban social media for kids under 16
A Florida bill that would prohibit kids under 16 from signing up for most social media platforms has passed the state House of Representatives.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/11431091
The House passed the bill by a vote of 106 to 13, with many Democrats joining the chamber's Republican majority in support of the bill. It now heads to the Republican-controlled Senate for consideration.
I'd like to point out that for many of our LGBT+ youth living in hostile places, social media is their safe space. It's tragic that such is the case, but I've seen maps where LGBT+ people post where we're from, and some of them are kids in the middle of a reservation in a town with 20 people, and they're all alone.
As much of a distaste I have for social media use in general, I often think about these kids and the reasons they have for using it.
I'm also well aware of the risks of kids being exploited via social media, but I'm not convinced the best answer is just shutting them off like this.
This all applies to disabled kids (and adults, of course) too, especially those who are unable to leave the house or otherwise struggle with in person interaction (and who would often be left completely isolated without virtual communication)..
People love to shit on social media, when actually they should be shitting on the rich and powerful who use it to manipulate society, not those using it looking to connect to others..
True! I'm sure this applies to many marginalized groups of people.
Yeah full agree. As a teenager the internet made me understand I wasn’t the only one like me. Reddit was a major player in that. Tumblr just as easily could’ve been. And I wasn’t even rural, I was just trans before anyone was willing to talk about us.
And yeah it’s not just queer kids. It’s also kids with abusive parents learning that that’s not normal. Social media probably has a net negative impact on teenagers, but I’d rather we focus on trying to fix the problems than just outright banning it. We’re too comfortable banning things these days
Hell, even as an adult living in an extremely conservative area, I greatly value my online spaces to remind me I'm not totally losing my mind.
Maybe comforting to think about it like this: kids find a way. Every generation has individuals that will outsmart restrictive methods out there for the masses.
"this isn't social media, it's uh, , er, gang web. Totally different!"
Matt Gaetz is devastated
Nah, 16-year-olds are young enough for him to settle for.
Besides he just flies them in from another state.
It would also require that social media sites use "reasonable age verification methods" to verify users' ages.
Aside from the general issue I have with this, this part especially worries me. What do they consider reasonable and would it involve potential identity theft if there is a data leak?
What do they consider reasonable and would it involve potential identity theft if there is a data leak?
Your talking about lawmakers that think could computing is a FAA issue. They literally can't comprehend the question.
That's why it worries me.
So social media sites will just block Florida like some porn sites blocked some states. Won't change anything because of VPNs.
How the fuck do they plan to take down Lemmy?
Edit: now that I think about it. The only way to even get this to work is KYC. I don't think KYC on social media should exist. Sounds dystopian
They dont understand the internet, only censorship=good
Social media goes against their educational programming. They want misinformed youth entering the workforce, can't have any of the "leftist" social media contradicting their narrative.
If you’re relying on social media for your information, I think it’s likely that you’re already misinformed.
What and who's narrative? This sounds awfully "conspiracy"-ish. Please explain.
Permanently Deleted
And just like that LISTSERV becomes relevant again. Today people would call it Social Media by email.
Orthogonal, but I have fond memories of the firewalls mailing list (greatcircle.com iirc) as well as the Usenet Oracle
they'll just go to forums lol
I have very fond memories of the forums I was a member of as a teen and some of the chatroom sites as well.
Good luck enforcing that. On the other hand, I think maybe 13 is a good age to limit… but not as a law.
Most companies already have 13 as their policy. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/26/the-right-age-for-kids-to-be-on-social-media-experts-say.html
How many of them enforce it?
Wouldn’t it be easier to put this on ISPs? They actually know your address. Social media companies can only guess. IP is not a guarantee that you’re in-state.
Ah, censorship at the ISP level. What could go wrong?...
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a terrible idea.
Just saying, as someone that has built a lot of geotargeting stuff for mapping and whatnot, it’s hard for social media and porn sites to block states. You can try to get vague city or county location from an IP address, but that stuff is super imperfect, and it can be WAY off.
Chapter 356 in the book of laws the Florida legislature enacts which will be struck down by the courts for violating the constitutional rights of citizens.