That sounds dramatic, doesn’t it? But that’ll be the case for anyone under the age of 16 in Florida.
Last week, Florida Governor signed a bill that bans all children under 14 from social media. 14-15 year olds will need to have parental consent to have an account.
The bill says that all social media companies need to delete all accounts with those who are under 16, but … how will that actually work?
And as the Governor is stating this is for kid’s mental health—how will deleting all of their accounts and access to their Snapchat streaks, Instagram DMs, and YouTube videos affect their mental health?
Social media platforms will now have to verify through a third-party platform to verify ages of those signing up for social media. The law, which is supposed to go into effect January 2025, has an equal amount of support as it does critics. With critics saying the bill violates the First Amendment and parents should be the ones making the decision on whether their child is online or not.
Whatever happens, it seems that 2024-2025 is the year that social media is getting a serious reckoning.