The Florida Senate

Senator Erin Grall (R-Vero Beach) today released the following statement regarding House Bill 3, which requires social media platforms that employ algorithms combined with deceptive design features to perform reasonable age verification and calls for commercial entities that publish or distribute material harmful to minors on websites and applications to perform reasonable age verification.

“Addictive features, including infinite-scroll and auto-play, are the cornerstone of social media platforms today. These platforms are intentionally designed to keep children engaged for excessive amounts of time, in an effort to monetize their behavior to their own detriment.

“With Governor Ron DeSantis’ signature today, we have taken a significant step in protecting Florida’s children from the dark patterns used by the platforms. I am proud of the work we have accomplished to shield one of our most vulnerable populations from such powerfully addictive products and pornographic material.

“The compulsive use of social media has a detrimental impact on children’s mental health, well-being, and brain development, one that our state, and every state across the country, is seeing and experiencing in real-time. Today, however, Florida is a leader in the fight against these lethal technologies that have been deliberately designed to manipulate reality and take advantage of childhood vulnerabilities. We have rejected the commoditization of children and platforms that prey on their age and exposes them to the worst kind of predators and harms.

“Because the federal government has failed to act, state laws to prevent social media companies from intentionally taking advantage of children are desperately needed, and I am honored to have been the champion of this legislation in the Florida Senate. I am also incredibly grateful to House Speaker Paul Renner for his enduring commitment to protecting our state’s most vulnerable, as well as Governor DeSantis for his collaboration and, above all else, his signing of this landmark legislation.”