Florida bill could monitor social media use for minors
TAMPA, Fla. - As the Florida legislative session begins in January, new proposed legislation is set to target social media platforms.
A proposed Senate bill would require social media platforms to have a defined strategy to keep minors from viewing certain content.
SB 454 would also require companies to verify the ages of users, and it would require an option for parental control settings on the platform.
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"This is what I like to refer to as the seatbelt phase of the Internet," Stan Gipe, a partner with the Dolman Law Group said. "We're just now starting to realize we need to place these restrictions on what we've now realized to be something that is both great, wonderful and dangerous."
James McQuiggan, a cybersecurity advocate with KnoawBe4, says this bill could be the legislature’s way of holding the feet of social media companies to the fire. He says a lot of platforms already have some of the proposed precautions and requirements in place.
With the quick evolution of the internet, he also says it’s difficult for companies to monitor every single piece of content individually.
"With the algorithms that end up happening, kids go check out one thing and, you know, end up leading down to other topics," McQuiggan said.
Gipe says this bill could help require companies to use algorithms and data tracking to filter out certain content.
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"What's happened now is these laws are making them use these algorithms to determine, ‘Hey, look, we got to do an analysis to see if this type of information, does this appear to be grooming conduct?’" Gipe said.
Gipe says the bill comes with nuances, though, because the internet allows people to access content worldwide.
"How is this regulated if you've got someone who's accessing a mobile device but not sharing their location? Does the Florida law?" Gipe said.
McQuiggan says the bill is vague, as it stands, and would likely need to have more specific details about regulation content monitoring.
"Very general terms with regards to what they're looking for within regards to the, you know, the monitoring, the data collection, age verification, parental controls, you know, the real-time monitoring and reporting and all that," McQuiggan said.
He also says enforcement of regulations like this can be challenging.
"You're dealing with large technology companies that have billions of dollars behind them, and you're going to go through and audit and try and enforce this," McQuiggan said.
Gipe says these issues will likely be handled on a case-by-case basis in the court system.
"At what point does this stuff cross the line? Now, this is all going to be fleshed out by the courts, and it's going to be situational," Gipe said. "You know, it's like everything else. You never really thought of that until it pops up. It happens a lot."
He says it could provide the framework for the future and set precedents for social media platform regulations.
"I would anticipate that this will get dealt with on a national basis with a much more uniform type of approach before long, as sort of these things come into play," Gipe said. "But we're at that sort of infancy phase where we're just now putting the seatbelts in the cars, when we're just now going to realize as we go through this."
The bill was filed in November.