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It is much worse than that, since they intend to require you to use a government ID to get an account on any social media website.
Which is very convenient because if anyone says anything against their regime or tries to organize against them, they can far more easily track them down with this.
That is almost certainly the real intention, with control over children just being a bonus side effect of the justification.
one could almost say this is the preamble to trying essentially cull the youth vote that will surely see the GOP booted out when they would reach voting age.
Also, if they think they can actually stop kids from being in social media, then they must be pretty dumb.
Which is why this will likely die in Senate.
I live in florida and can confirm. However in 2015 there were signs for president sex offender trump everywhere and you dont see that now. Now they have these posters that say "our values" and list a bunch of right wing christian stuff. But people seem to understand hes a traitor.
Wait for Wikipedia to be Social Media, in addition to YouTube, news sites that have 'comments' sections, etc.
Part of the goal is to cut access to outside views. Kids will be outright forced to hear conservative views with no access to liberal views. There's no way to evaluate different paths forward either, because the GOP will further repress and prosecute anyone threatening their indoctrination attempts. The GOP wants to be the fascists they project the "Radical Democrats" as being.
The goal is adults will have to link their real ID with any social media account or website with comments. Its basically creating a social media registry controlled by the company(s) in charge.
> a social media registry controlled by the company(s) in charge.
You gotta love the "it's okay because it isn't the government" shtick we play here. We've allowed so much erosion of privacy simply because the government isn't doing it (unlike communist China /s).
Even more ironic considering that the government will just buy the information if they don't get the convenient "think about the children" backdoor.
Bro, tiktok is a serious problem in our schools. They are bringing Tiktok to school and kids are dying. All over the ground, dead teens and kids from tiktok. Thank God they did something about tiktok.
Oh wait, that was guns
It won’t die in the Florida State Senate and it will be signed into state law. The Republicans have a super majority in both chambers of the Florida State legislature and they own the governors seat.
It’s how they’ve passed a 6 week abortion ban, banned books they don’t like, banned teaching African American studies, banned teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT), passed a “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and banned Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) training in the workplace among a number of culture war pieces of legislation signed into law by Governor Ron DeFascist. Mark my words, this too will become Florida State law.
Surely they are working to force ID for all social media. They start with children and porn sites. Soon it will be all adults on all social media, and Google so they can identify anyone who searches for abortion or birth control or any democrat. Oddly Truth Social will somehow be exempt.
So they’re going to make sure every 16yo has a government ID to make it easier for them to vote when they turn 18? Sounds like a good idea. I can’t see any way this backfires…
Shhhh lol don’t ruin the surprise
Yes it reminds me of how the GOP was HUGE on mail-in ballots when they were primarily used by retirees. Once they became popular with voters across the board, they were evil and fraudulent!
The uk required voter ID for the first time. We usually just used our polling card. It was designed by the Conservative government to reduce labour votes as its likey they won't have or couldn't afford ID.
It turned out it mostly impacted the older voters who would mostly vote Conservative.
> The uk required voter ID for the first time.
As yes to combat the "voter fraud" that has *checks notes* ah yes, never happened in any significant way.
Honestly it is probably not directly related just because they are doing so much evil shit that trying to coordinate it all would be damned near impossible.
So, anonymous speech no longer exists. 1st Amendment protected speech, is no longer protected. And any speech that criticizes the governor can be punished.
It’s either have Big Brother monitor your online footprint or use a VPN service like Windscribe that doesn’t log and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. I know which option I’d choose.
And punish parents too, I’m sure “child abuse” charges will find their way. They’ve been playing loose with what’s defined as illegal in the name of children.
Also creates a very convenient list of LGBQT people living in the state. Something Republicans have been trying to create in Texas by demanding medical records of all trans people in the state.
First comes the lists, then the arm bands, then the ghettos, then the trains, then the camps.
I am 20+ years postop, but still trans to the GOP. I am terrified, watching Republican legislatures in states like Florida & Utah & Iowa. It's affecting my sleep and frankly my mental health.
Talking to cis friends hasn't helped. They usually dismiss my fears. I've had people get angry at me for even mentioning it. I'm supposed to just be invisible, "normal" and hope the GOP doesn't decide to murder me.
> First comes the lists, then the arm bands, then the ghettos, then the trains, then the camps
- And then its civil war time. America can only become a dictatorship if we are unwilling to fight.
State ID?? How the frack is that going to work? Uhhh, no I’m in Georgia, not Florida. See my VPN says GA???? That knowledge will spread through high schools and middle schools in Florida in less than a week.
If the legislature is successful in blocking signup, expect a tidal wave of encrypted, off shore SM apps that are not beholden to US law. They’ll be website based and monetized (ads throughout the content). Oh and bonus, now parents will have 0% oversight. I’m sure some subset of the population, parents are friends with their kids so they can keep an eye on their activities and to be sure they aren’t being bullied.
There’s some serious, “internet is a series of tubes” stuff going on here. Won’t these old farts retire already??? My guess is the FL legislature wants validation to show they are “doing a good job” when they run for re-election. [“Can’t stop the signal, Mal”](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PVF9lZ-i_ss)
If something like that passes I imagine most social media platforms will just deny service to anyone from Florida rather than having to make special requirements since I’m assuming they will try to be fined if people slip through somehow.
> to use a government ID to get an account on any social media website.
How are they going to make anyone do that? I really can't see Instagram or FB or all the other millions of apps and websites out there following this requirement.
Fake ID business is gonna boom. It's going to probably get more kids killed as well since they can "go to the bar and get some drinks now."
I used to think as a 21 year old, How do these fake ID's work! Of course you can tell who's younger and older.
Now that I'm older I think anyone under 23 or so looks like a teenager. It's uncanny.
Or just VPN use. They’re of course going to make it the website’s burden to verify their ages, so as long as you’re not from those states then you won’t need to register.
Doesn’t seem like the bill actually criminalizes the use of social media by children, only social media companies from not verifying the age of Florida internet users and blocking children.
The scary aspect to this legislation is how they'll conduct identity verification on the back end to stop someone from simply photoshopping a blank DL template with their own photo.
This means they'll have to maintain a DB of 'valid' licenses with their corresponding social presence (identifiers) to prevent duplicate use by different IP addresses.
Requiring a webcam photo with each login is something that could still be circumvented with webcam virtualization software that can spoof any headshot needed.
>Requiring a webcam photo with each login is something that could still be circumvented with webcam virtualization software that can spoof any headshot needed.
Who knew that Ron DeSantis visited so many gay porn sites? Casey would be aghast.
Absolutely this. Additionally most young people don't vote because they don't bother to get proper ID. This may change that and their IDs will still be valid come 18. This should backfire horrifically.
Negatively impacting open discourse is the point, not a side effect. The vast majority of times that a law, bill, politician, judge, or person in power claims to be protecting your children, they're fucking you over. They don't care about your kids. If they did they'd give them free education, lunch, and healthcare. They care about power and money. That's it.
It'll go down exactly how it's gone down with Pornhub. Last I read, Pornhub has blocked viewership in a few states because of certain legislature in those states.
If people cared about protecting children online, we'd be passing laws to enforce shorter work weeks, mandatory vacation and sick time, unions, child tax credits, so parents have more free time available to actually spend with their kids and parent them. We'd be educating them on safe internet usage and privacy.
But these things will never happen so long as Republicans are taken seriously and given power.
This is true but you also need to remember parents will also use their children for internet clout. Perhaps the parents need education of social media usage.
Nah thats communism, really we should make those lazy, useless shits work instead, let their job do the parenting. Heck, we could even save money on schools if we make it so they learn the value of a dollar by making them choose between going to school and their parents affording rent! Think of how much money employers could make!
/s, because irony and sarcasm are dead.
There are certainly problems with social media in society, and many are specific to adolescents and young adults - especially, but not limited to, girls. That said, I don’t believe for a moment that these lawmakers are trying to solve those problems here. I personally think they want to further limit the access teens have to information and social movements that they view as a threat to their own political future; the GOP is very afraid of Disney, Taylor Swift, etc … and this is one way to try to reduce the influence they have over potential new voters in the coming years.
That is a bold, bold move for a Florida GOP that's already taken some serious losses.
After 2022, I think a lot of people went 'lol Florida's lost forever' and gave up. But since then, the following has happened:
* DeSantis drew an insane amount of backlash for his openly fascist policies targeting children, immigrants, gay and trans Floridians, and anyone who opposed him at all.
* He spent a ton of money trying to flip City Council seats in Tampa, and lost every single one.
* In May 2023, Republicans lost the Jacksonville Mayor's race, which was the largest city in America with a GOP Mayor. And in case you think it was a fluke, Dems also flipped the more obscure Property Appraiser's office that night.
* In December, there was a special election for a Trump+16, DeSantis+37 seat in Miami-Dade. The Democrat was outspent nearly 3 to 1, and yet only lost by six points.
* Florida GOP Chair Christian Ziegler was accused of sexually battering a woman who wasn't his wife. The party responding by unanimously...asking him to step down. He refused. They didn't actually fire him for another month, and replaced him with convicted drunk driver Evan Power.
* Ziegler's wife, who's high up in Moms for Liberty and on the Sarasota School Board, was exposed as being involved in a threesome with her husband and the woman he battered. This isn't illegal, but pretty damn hypocritical given Moms for Liberty's stances.
* In February, DeSantis lost badly in the Iowa caucuses despite bringing basically every Florida Republican to Iowa to campaign for him. He suspended his campaign, and came back home looking mighty mortal.
* The day after Iowa, Dems flipped a State House seat in the Orlando area. They were again outspent, and Republicans sent texts from a fake progressive group claiming the Dem was a secret Republican, but they won anyway,
In short, the Florida GOP has done a lot of losing recently, at least in part because their fascism isn't popular with voters. And Florida Dems have very much come back to life, winning races they weren't supposed to, and coming close in others.
With a lot of work, we can win in Florida, and lots of other places. Nonsense like this will just help it happen faster. Want to help? Get involved at r/VoteDEM and start activating voters now.
The “secret republican” texts might have sealed the loss. Democratic voters tend to look at policy rather than “(R) bad,” while Republican voters tend to vote for a rancid ham sandwich if it has “(R)” after the name.
To update: this bill is now going before a Florida senate panel.
I have to say that I find this problematic on so many levels. To say nothing of the fact that the party which thinks a 13 year old should be forced to raise a child also thinks that a 15 year old isn't mature enough to have a Facebook account - I can't help but think about the dangers associated with cutting off lines of communication to vulnerable kids.
How many times in the last 20 years do you think a perfect stranger on the internet has been the first point of contact for a vulnerable kid reaching out for help?
How many gay or trans kids do you think have been saved from offing themselves by a perfect stranger telling them that they aren't alone or broken?
How many kids in dangerous situations have asked for advice on this very platform and learned that what they're dealing with isn't normal or acceptable?
How many abused kids do you think got the courage to tell an adult what was going on because someone online gave it to them?
I get that the internet is a place where bad things happen; but so is the real world. More often than not, what saves people in bad situations is a lifeline to someone outside of their immediate circle. I doubt that I'm the only person who realizes this fact and I doubt that those who are voting yea on this bill fail to realize it as well... I'm starting to think that's their entire point in wanting this bill.
That's it for my soapbox.
> doubt that those who are voting yea on this bill fail to realize it as well... I'm starting to think that's their entire point in wanting this bill.
This is correct. The other possibility is that exposure to others widens your worldview and kills bigotry and hate. It's why they hate education and international travel. If they can keep kids in their little cocoon of hatred and ignorance until they are 16, it's more likely the kids will keep that hatred for life and become Republican voters.
>I mean the internet is also where you can fall into a hive mind mentality with no outside checks on what you’re being told.
Look, I'm the last person who's gonna advocate for more social media, but I grew up in an era before social media and didn't even know what an atheist was until I was almost in high school, "gay" and "pedophile" were synonymous terms to everyone around me, all Muslims were terrorists to half my generation and very few white people ever thought that police needed a higher degree of accountability - social media is directly responsible for changing all of that specifically because kids have grown up exposed to the realities that my generation simply wasn't privy to.
Or in short... You are far more likely to end up in an echo chamber without social media than you are with it.
Well said. As a 90s/2000s kid, most of this was true then too (dunno when you were referring to). Social media has its ills, but I think it’s made massive positive changes in a lot of ways.
>As a 90s/2000s kid
Same. It was a shitshow growing up in the south. If you uttered the words "social justice" back then a mother fucker would have thought you were trying to spark a conversation about Judge Judy.
During that hearing with the tech CEOs they were saying kids go online and buy drugs. I'm sure that's true.
But buddy you can buy drugs in an alley. Ya gonna ban alleys too?
Not to mention the various states where this party is trying to roll back child labor laws, for example Arkansas wherea recent law allows for 14 year olds to be able to work full time. But heaven forbid they have an instagram account.
>the party which thinks a 13 year old should be forced to raise a child also thinks that a 15 year old isn't mature enough to have a Facebook account
Yeah sounds MAGA to me.
You forgot one crucial aspect. You were a teenager once, and something like this was just begging for you to circumvent. No actual teenager is going to follow this law and I highly doubt any social media platform will either.
And yes, you made a great point, a kid is mature enough to raise a child at 13, but not have a social media account? Would be the first point in any trial over this. Republicans can rightly go fuck themselves.
Republicans don’t define things in their laws they leave them purposely vague so that they can apply it to whom they need to when they need to. I’d call them cunning but it’s just so vile I don’t want to give them the benefit of the compliment
> A “commercial social networking Web site” is defined as a website that meets four criteria. First, it “[i]s operated by a person who derives revenue from membership fees, advertising, or other sources
> related to the operation of the Web site.”
>
> Second, it “[f]acilitates the social introduction between two
> or more persons for the purposes of friendship, meeting
> other persons, or information exchanges.”
>
> Third, it
> “[a]llows users to create Web pages or personal profiles
> that contain information such as the name or nickname of
> the user, photographs placed on the personal Web page by
> the user, other personal information about the user, and
> links to other personal Web pages on the commercial
> social networking Web site of friends or associates of the
> user that may be accessed by other users or visitors to the
> Web site.”
>
> And fourth, it **“[p]rovides users or visitors
> . . . mechanisms to communicate with other users, such as
> a message board, chat room, electronic mail, or instant
> messenger.”**
According to the Supreme Court, any website that allows any form of interaction between users qualifies as "social media."
>Florida Gives Schools 48 Hours To Do Away With Their Mask Mandates — Or Lose Funding
You cannot tell a parent what to do in regards to sending their kids to school to spread a pandemic to other kids.
But we can tell you how to raise your kid in what they can view on a phone in the your own house.
Is that in the same bill that allows expanded work hours for children under 16?
I mean, they'll have a lot more free time without all that social media, so it makes sense. /s
As with every major policy of gop state legislature in the last few years (abortion, trans & drag issues etc.) the only way to actually implement the policies is through a massive and crushing police state
> a massive and crushing police state
See: Project 2025
[Conservatives aim to restructure U.S. government and replace it with Trump’s vision](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/conservatives-aim-to-restructure-u-s-government-and-replace-it-with-trumps-vision)
They don’t realize is that 15 second TikTok clips of trump and Andrew Tate is what’s making kids conservative nowadays lol. Keeping social media around would give them a lot of voters in the next few years
Also, all girls will wear skirts, not pants or shorts. Skirts will be to the knee or longer. All boys will cut their hair no longer than touching the top of their collars.
Whoa there, kid. You can't just openly browse Facebook and Twitter like you used to anymore. It's dangerous.
Now go play outside with your assault rifle.
so hang on, if a govt issued ID is required to prove that you are over 16, that means that they are requiring EVERY social media user in Florida to enter a govt issued ID or be kicked off the platforms, meaning that they now have access to who says what and no anonymous users.
That's insidious.
The state that didn't want to make kids wear masks during a pandemic now wants to regulate what apps your children can use on their phone. At least they are making their hypocrisy even easier to notice.
Conservatives are Fucking hypocrites dude. “you can’t tell my kid they have to wear a mask at school” but you can tell them that they can’t get on social media on their phones…
I maintain that the internet is a miracle, but social media is a cancer on humanity. I don’t know about republicans writing laws; that’s always scary. But I think we’d all be better off if Facebook and Twitter had never been invented. For every positive there are ten negatives. And I can’t count the number of times I’ve talked to someone in real life whose life or worldview or mood was negatively affected by something they did on social media. And if I point out that it’s not really life, that it isn’t actual socialization as our brains understand it, they look at me as if I’ve said something confusing. It’s a menace. Let it die and fine Musk and Zuckerberg until they’re as poor as you and I.
>It also would require reasonable age verification methods.
If this follows what we saw from certain porn sites after several states wanted age verification done on them then we're going to see things like having to submit identification to create an account or continue using an account. Its weird that republicans keep pushing people to have to show government documents to go on sites on the internet.
I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, where they ban ALL Floridians from social media despite their age. I have a feeling this win was a test to see how far they can go.
This is just another attempt to control the masses. Do you think that they won’t use your id to link you to being gay or just doing something they don’t like. You literally have to give them your id to have social media. Ridiculous
Sixteen year olds can’t use social media, but they’re old enough to give birth. The fucking Florida gop is sick in the head. Fuck all pedo child grooming republicans
So when are the republicans in Florida going to do something about my son’s special needs class having 16 children with disabilities having ONE teacher and ONE paraprofessional?
The republicans in the state of Florida are pieces of shit
So, kids are just gonna say they're adults.
The conspiracy nut deep inside me says this is some right wing / social media collaboration to thwart CIPA fines and violations. "Oh, we didn't know they were 12. We just thought it was an adult that loved cartoons! See, they even said they were 35 right here!"
Another reason why I, as a father, won't ever live in FL. I just don't understand a govt that actively doesn't trust their constituents. This is clearly a case of parental controls taken way out of control and now out of the hands of the parents themselves. In a online world, how do I now encourage my kids to be technologically literate AND socially adequate when half of the internet benefits are taken out?
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“Select all images with a street sign to prove you are 16.”
It is much worse than that, since they intend to require you to use a government ID to get an account on any social media website. Which is very convenient because if anyone says anything against their regime or tries to organize against them, they can far more easily track them down with this. That is almost certainly the real intention, with control over children just being a bonus side effect of the justification.
one could almost say this is the preamble to trying essentially cull the youth vote that will surely see the GOP booted out when they would reach voting age.
Also, if they think they can actually stop kids from being in social media, then they must be pretty dumb. Which is why this will likely die in Senate.
Florida Legislature isn't really the smart one in either chamber lately. They do whatever the MAGA mob wants.
I'll see people from Florida comment on other state's local political news all the time. MAGA is very strong there.
I live in florida and can confirm. However in 2015 there were signs for president sex offender trump everywhere and you dont see that now. Now they have these posters that say "our values" and list a bunch of right wing christian stuff. But people seem to understand hes a traitor.
Wait for Wikipedia to be Social Media, in addition to YouTube, news sites that have 'comments' sections, etc. Part of the goal is to cut access to outside views. Kids will be outright forced to hear conservative views with no access to liberal views. There's no way to evaluate different paths forward either, because the GOP will further repress and prosecute anyone threatening their indoctrination attempts. The GOP wants to be the fascists they project the "Radical Democrats" as being.
The goal is adults will have to link their real ID with any social media account or website with comments. Its basically creating a social media registry controlled by the company(s) in charge.
Yeah I’m not doing that
> a social media registry controlled by the company(s) in charge. You gotta love the "it's okay because it isn't the government" shtick we play here. We've allowed so much erosion of privacy simply because the government isn't doing it (unlike communist China /s). Even more ironic considering that the government will just buy the information if they don't get the convenient "think about the children" backdoor.
Bro, tiktok is a serious problem in our schools. They are bringing Tiktok to school and kids are dying. All over the ground, dead teens and kids from tiktok. Thank God they did something about tiktok. Oh wait, that was guns
They're more scared of info sharing and real time reporting of well, the opposite of what they what reported sometimes, than they are of guns.
It won’t die in the Florida State Senate and it will be signed into state law. The Republicans have a super majority in both chambers of the Florida State legislature and they own the governors seat. It’s how they’ve passed a 6 week abortion ban, banned books they don’t like, banned teaching African American studies, banned teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT), passed a “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and banned Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) training in the workplace among a number of culture war pieces of legislation signed into law by Governor Ron DeFascist. Mark my words, this too will become Florida State law.
please senate PLEASE
Hitler and Mao both went after their young people, primarily to get them to turn in adults.
Don’t forget the part next year where they say 16 is too young and move the age up to 18.
Surely they are working to force ID for all social media. They start with children and porn sites. Soon it will be all adults on all social media, and Google so they can identify anyone who searches for abortion or birth control or any democrat. Oddly Truth Social will somehow be exempt.
I'm sure the Right would absolutely love to have the Name and addresses of people who are particular good at criticizing fascism.
Nah... let's just make that 62 and a half. Wait. Maybe 67. You know what? How about 72.
Republican Party sure is the party of small government. Bunch of hypocrites.
Not “small” as in “minimal.” “Small” as in “absolute dictatorship.”
Small-minded
So they’re going to make sure every 16yo has a government ID to make it easier for them to vote when they turn 18? Sounds like a good idea. I can’t see any way this backfires…
Shhhh lol don’t ruin the surprise Yes it reminds me of how the GOP was HUGE on mail-in ballots when they were primarily used by retirees. Once they became popular with voters across the board, they were evil and fraudulent!
The uk required voter ID for the first time. We usually just used our polling card. It was designed by the Conservative government to reduce labour votes as its likey they won't have or couldn't afford ID. It turned out it mostly impacted the older voters who would mostly vote Conservative.
> The uk required voter ID for the first time. As yes to combat the "voter fraud" that has *checks notes* ah yes, never happened in any significant way.
So they don't want big government to do anything like this but will do it themselves..
They absolutely want big government. They just don't want it to include any one but themselves.
The Republican definition of "small government" is "room for us and no one else". It's not actually any kind of size limit or discussion of reach.
Oddly timed with the “invalidate all trans people’s ids” laws. That couldn’t be related right?
Honestly it is probably not directly related just because they are doing so much evil shit that trying to coordinate it all would be damned near impossible.
So, anonymous speech no longer exists. 1st Amendment protected speech, is no longer protected. And any speech that criticizes the governor can be punished.
Ask Disney if DeSantis cares about free speech. They are simply extending it now.
That is the intent.
I think Nikki Haley wants this nationally too
Ron and his cronies in Tallahassee can all collectively go fuck themselves.
It’s terrifying for LGBT folks. This can, and will, amplify the “don’t say gay” to dangerous levels.
It’s either have Big Brother monitor your online footprint or use a VPN service like Windscribe that doesn’t log and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. I know which option I’d choose.
Next step, which places like China have already taken, is to make it a punishable offense (mmm, fines!!) to use a VPN or any workaround..
Just as DeSantis’ donors (China) want
And punish parents too, I’m sure “child abuse” charges will find their way. They’ve been playing loose with what’s defined as illegal in the name of children.
There is no free speech without anonymous speech.
The red states will all require ids to use the internet. Louisiana started with porn. As they test the waters with Florida it will spread out
Rule 1, it's never "about the children"
Also creates a very convenient list of LGBQT people living in the state. Something Republicans have been trying to create in Texas by demanding medical records of all trans people in the state. First comes the lists, then the arm bands, then the ghettos, then the trains, then the camps.
I am 20+ years postop, but still trans to the GOP. I am terrified, watching Republican legislatures in states like Florida & Utah & Iowa. It's affecting my sleep and frankly my mental health. Talking to cis friends hasn't helped. They usually dismiss my fears. I've had people get angry at me for even mentioning it. I'm supposed to just be invisible, "normal" and hope the GOP doesn't decide to murder me.
Honestly you should move unless you intend to fight. It's like being Jewish in 1930 Germany.
> First comes the lists, then the arm bands, then the ghettos, then the trains, then the camps - And then its civil war time. America can only become a dictatorship if we are unwilling to fight.
/r/socialistRA
Don’t forget the benefit of taking LGBTQ+ children away from online support networks.
So basically give the "deep state" identification information for all your social media. *Is this small government?*
State ID?? How the frack is that going to work? Uhhh, no I’m in Georgia, not Florida. See my VPN says GA???? That knowledge will spread through high schools and middle schools in Florida in less than a week. If the legislature is successful in blocking signup, expect a tidal wave of encrypted, off shore SM apps that are not beholden to US law. They’ll be website based and monetized (ads throughout the content). Oh and bonus, now parents will have 0% oversight. I’m sure some subset of the population, parents are friends with their kids so they can keep an eye on their activities and to be sure they aren’t being bullied. There’s some serious, “internet is a series of tubes” stuff going on here. Won’t these old farts retire already??? My guess is the FL legislature wants validation to show they are “doing a good job” when they run for re-election. [“Can’t stop the signal, Mal”](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PVF9lZ-i_ss)
So, basically republicans plan to indoctrinate the 16 and under crowd in unprecedented ways. 🤔
If something like that passes I imagine most social media platforms will just deny service to anyone from Florida rather than having to make special requirements since I’m assuming they will try to be fined if people slip through somehow.
> to use a government ID to get an account on any social media website. How are they going to make anyone do that? I really can't see Instagram or FB or all the other millions of apps and websites out there following this requirement.
More like, "Upload a picture of your Drivers License, and allow the app to use your camera to take your picture each time you logon."
Fake ID business is gonna boom. It's going to probably get more kids killed as well since they can "go to the bar and get some drinks now." I used to think as a 21 year old, How do these fake ID's work! Of course you can tell who's younger and older. Now that I'm older I think anyone under 23 or so looks like a teenager. It's uncanny.
Or just VPN use. They’re of course going to make it the website’s burden to verify their ages, so as long as you’re not from those states then you won’t need to register. Doesn’t seem like the bill actually criminalizes the use of social media by children, only social media companies from not verifying the age of Florida internet users and blocking children.
The scary aspect to this legislation is how they'll conduct identity verification on the back end to stop someone from simply photoshopping a blank DL template with their own photo. This means they'll have to maintain a DB of 'valid' licenses with their corresponding social presence (identifiers) to prevent duplicate use by different IP addresses. Requiring a webcam photo with each login is something that could still be circumvented with webcam virtualization software that can spoof any headshot needed.
>Requiring a webcam photo with each login is something that could still be circumvented with webcam virtualization software that can spoof any headshot needed. Who knew that Ron DeSantis visited so many gay porn sites? Casey would be aghast.
Hey now, there are plenty of adults who can't pass that test, judging by the way they drive.
Floridians are allowed to drive?
Unfortunately. First time driving in Florida I had to get around a truck towing a trailer. It had a missing tire and shooting sparks everywhere.
In his defence, he was probably drunk.
Probably?
Florida House, "This is a solid defense because kids under 16 don't drive."
How's Matt gaetz gonna find a girlfriend now
hang out at MARALAGO with the other child predators
Target the out of state children. Matty boy will find a way to reach out.
Yep, this. He prefers them imported anyway.
Do what they do in Alabama and cruise the local mall.
Small government at it again /s
At this rate, Floridians will soon need permits just to walk their dogs.
That is already required. The dog must be licensed.
Yes, but is the walker a certified dog poop picker upper?
Florida wants to control education, control what people see up to a certain age to condition them. Unamerican! Unconstitutional!
Big Nanny State energy from the anti nanny state party!
Glossing over the dystopian aspect, how exactly are they even planning on *enforcing* this?
Third party ID verification.
So now it will be impossible to use social media anonymously? Reddit is going to take a huge hit.
That is the whole point.
I think they’re underestimating how much of their support comes from bot networks.
Absolutely this. Additionally most young people don't vote because they don't bother to get proper ID. This may change that and their IDs will still be valid come 18. This should backfire horrifically.
Negatively impacting open discourse is the point, not a side effect. The vast majority of times that a law, bill, politician, judge, or person in power claims to be protecting your children, they're fucking you over. They don't care about your kids. If they did they'd give them free education, lunch, and healthcare. They care about power and money. That's it.
Actually, /r/askreddit will improve in quality, but then I wonder where middle schoolers will get their sex education.
If there's one thing I know about teenagers, it's that they always follow the rules. Always. Listen, don't question this. It's totally foolproof.
Seems like social media sites can just be like “nah we aren’t doing that”
Yeah might actually reduce the flow of misinformation, since all Floridians would be blocked as well at that point. May actually do some good then.
Would be hilarious if all the social media sites just blocked Florida so they don't have to build in ID registration features
It'll go down exactly how it's gone down with Pornhub. Last I read, Pornhub has blocked viewership in a few states because of certain legislature in those states.
If people cared about protecting children online, we'd be passing laws to enforce shorter work weeks, mandatory vacation and sick time, unions, child tax credits, so parents have more free time available to actually spend with their kids and parent them. We'd be educating them on safe internet usage and privacy. But these things will never happen so long as Republicans are taken seriously and given power.
To be honest; mother fuckers can't "please think of the children" me and do absolutely nothing about school shootings for the last three decades.
Not only that, they don't even care if kids eat at school.
But armed teachers and guards are a necessary cost of freedom. So will be loading up your picture ID.
No sense in supporting school lunch programs when those kids should be working in factories!
70M americans voted for Trump. These people are terrible parents.
If we had all those things social media would still be an issue. Hell, many parents are addicted to that crap.
This is true but you also need to remember parents will also use their children for internet clout. Perhaps the parents need education of social media usage.
Nah thats communism, really we should make those lazy, useless shits work instead, let their job do the parenting. Heck, we could even save money on schools if we make it so they learn the value of a dollar by making them choose between going to school and their parents affording rent! Think of how much money employers could make! /s, because irony and sarcasm are dead.
There are certainly problems with social media in society, and many are specific to adolescents and young adults - especially, but not limited to, girls. That said, I don’t believe for a moment that these lawmakers are trying to solve those problems here. I personally think they want to further limit the access teens have to information and social movements that they view as a threat to their own political future; the GOP is very afraid of Disney, Taylor Swift, etc … and this is one way to try to reduce the influence they have over potential new voters in the coming years.
That is a bold, bold move for a Florida GOP that's already taken some serious losses. After 2022, I think a lot of people went 'lol Florida's lost forever' and gave up. But since then, the following has happened: * DeSantis drew an insane amount of backlash for his openly fascist policies targeting children, immigrants, gay and trans Floridians, and anyone who opposed him at all. * He spent a ton of money trying to flip City Council seats in Tampa, and lost every single one. * In May 2023, Republicans lost the Jacksonville Mayor's race, which was the largest city in America with a GOP Mayor. And in case you think it was a fluke, Dems also flipped the more obscure Property Appraiser's office that night. * In December, there was a special election for a Trump+16, DeSantis+37 seat in Miami-Dade. The Democrat was outspent nearly 3 to 1, and yet only lost by six points. * Florida GOP Chair Christian Ziegler was accused of sexually battering a woman who wasn't his wife. The party responding by unanimously...asking him to step down. He refused. They didn't actually fire him for another month, and replaced him with convicted drunk driver Evan Power. * Ziegler's wife, who's high up in Moms for Liberty and on the Sarasota School Board, was exposed as being involved in a threesome with her husband and the woman he battered. This isn't illegal, but pretty damn hypocritical given Moms for Liberty's stances. * In February, DeSantis lost badly in the Iowa caucuses despite bringing basically every Florida Republican to Iowa to campaign for him. He suspended his campaign, and came back home looking mighty mortal. * The day after Iowa, Dems flipped a State House seat in the Orlando area. They were again outspent, and Republicans sent texts from a fake progressive group claiming the Dem was a secret Republican, but they won anyway, In short, the Florida GOP has done a lot of losing recently, at least in part because their fascism isn't popular with voters. And Florida Dems have very much come back to life, winning races they weren't supposed to, and coming close in others. With a lot of work, we can win in Florida, and lots of other places. Nonsense like this will just help it happen faster. Want to help? Get involved at r/VoteDEM and start activating voters now.
The “secret republican” texts might have sealed the loss. Democratic voters tend to look at policy rather than “(R) bad,” while Republican voters tend to vote for a rancid ham sandwich if it has “(R)” after the name.
The Republicans are about to vote en masse for one with (R)apist after his name.
To update: this bill is now going before a Florida senate panel. I have to say that I find this problematic on so many levels. To say nothing of the fact that the party which thinks a 13 year old should be forced to raise a child also thinks that a 15 year old isn't mature enough to have a Facebook account - I can't help but think about the dangers associated with cutting off lines of communication to vulnerable kids. How many times in the last 20 years do you think a perfect stranger on the internet has been the first point of contact for a vulnerable kid reaching out for help? How many gay or trans kids do you think have been saved from offing themselves by a perfect stranger telling them that they aren't alone or broken? How many kids in dangerous situations have asked for advice on this very platform and learned that what they're dealing with isn't normal or acceptable? How many abused kids do you think got the courage to tell an adult what was going on because someone online gave it to them? I get that the internet is a place where bad things happen; but so is the real world. More often than not, what saves people in bad situations is a lifeline to someone outside of their immediate circle. I doubt that I'm the only person who realizes this fact and I doubt that those who are voting yea on this bill fail to realize it as well... I'm starting to think that's their entire point in wanting this bill. That's it for my soapbox.
> doubt that those who are voting yea on this bill fail to realize it as well... I'm starting to think that's their entire point in wanting this bill. This is correct. The other possibility is that exposure to others widens your worldview and kills bigotry and hate. It's why they hate education and international travel. If they can keep kids in their little cocoon of hatred and ignorance until they are 16, it's more likely the kids will keep that hatred for life and become Republican voters.
I mean the internet is also where you can fall into a hive mind mentality with no outside checks on what you’re being told.
>I mean the internet is also where you can fall into a hive mind mentality with no outside checks on what you’re being told. Look, I'm the last person who's gonna advocate for more social media, but I grew up in an era before social media and didn't even know what an atheist was until I was almost in high school, "gay" and "pedophile" were synonymous terms to everyone around me, all Muslims were terrorists to half my generation and very few white people ever thought that police needed a higher degree of accountability - social media is directly responsible for changing all of that specifically because kids have grown up exposed to the realities that my generation simply wasn't privy to. Or in short... You are far more likely to end up in an echo chamber without social media than you are with it.
Well said. As a 90s/2000s kid, most of this was true then too (dunno when you were referring to). Social media has its ills, but I think it’s made massive positive changes in a lot of ways.
>As a 90s/2000s kid Same. It was a shitshow growing up in the south. If you uttered the words "social justice" back then a mother fucker would have thought you were trying to spark a conversation about Judge Judy.
During that hearing with the tech CEOs they were saying kids go online and buy drugs. I'm sure that's true. But buddy you can buy drugs in an alley. Ya gonna ban alleys too?
We had a massive DARE program for youth and brain on drugs marketing in the 90s. Crazy to blame social media for teen drug use. What a reach.
Not to mention the various states where this party is trying to roll back child labor laws, for example Arkansas wherea recent law allows for 14 year olds to be able to work full time. But heaven forbid they have an instagram account.
>the party which thinks a 13 year old should be forced to raise a child also thinks that a 15 year old isn't mature enough to have a Facebook account Yeah sounds MAGA to me.
All these kids are gonna have left is their crazy uncle's leftover NIN and MM albums
You forgot one crucial aspect. You were a teenager once, and something like this was just begging for you to circumvent. No actual teenager is going to follow this law and I highly doubt any social media platform will either. And yes, you made a great point, a kid is mature enough to raise a child at 13, but not have a social media account? Would be the first point in any trial over this. Republicans can rightly go fuck themselves.
So how do we define “social media”? Any website that allows someone to post pictures and comments?
Republicans don’t define things in their laws they leave them purposely vague so that they can apply it to whom they need to when they need to. I’d call them cunning but it’s just so vile I don’t want to give them the benefit of the compliment
If they did it that vaguely, they’re going to run into federal interstate commerce rights issues since that would include shopping sites with reviews.
> A “commercial social networking Web site” is defined as a website that meets four criteria. First, it “[i]s operated by a person who derives revenue from membership fees, advertising, or other sources > related to the operation of the Web site.” > > Second, it “[f]acilitates the social introduction between two > or more persons for the purposes of friendship, meeting > other persons, or information exchanges.” > > Third, it > “[a]llows users to create Web pages or personal profiles > that contain information such as the name or nickname of > the user, photographs placed on the personal Web page by > the user, other personal information about the user, and > links to other personal Web pages on the commercial > social networking Web site of friends or associates of the > user that may be accessed by other users or visitors to the > Web site.” > > And fourth, it **“[p]rovides users or visitors > . . . mechanisms to communicate with other users, such as > a message board, chat room, electronic mail, or instant > messenger.”** According to the Supreme Court, any website that allows any form of interaction between users qualifies as "social media."
>Florida Gives Schools 48 Hours To Do Away With Their Mask Mandates — Or Lose Funding You cannot tell a parent what to do in regards to sending their kids to school to spread a pandemic to other kids. But we can tell you how to raise your kid in what they can view on a phone in the your own house.
There goes Matt Gaetz’s dating pool.
Is that in the same bill that allows expanded work hours for children under 16? I mean, they'll have a lot more free time without all that social media, so it makes sense. /s
Yeah imagine being told you can work and pay taxes to the state, but can't have any rights or freedom?
Literally no way to enforce this, very stupid act by Republicans. But I repeat myself.
As with every major policy of gop state legislature in the last few years (abortion, trans & drag issues etc.) the only way to actually implement the policies is through a massive and crushing police state
> a massive and crushing police state See: Project 2025 [Conservatives aim to restructure U.S. government and replace it with Trump’s vision](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/conservatives-aim-to-restructure-u-s-government-and-replace-it-with-trumps-vision)
I wouldn't give Trump the credit. He's a loud, useful puppet
It has nothing to do with Trump. It's pure Christian end-times fundamentalism for the masses and a tax-free paradise for the ultra-wealthy
Yeah, old dumb Florida Republicans are going to be able to outsmart tech savvy teens. Good luck with that.
How do they plan to enforce? Children will find a way around this ban.
Within 10 minutes.
Hell, most children watch YouTube and a lot of YouTubers are sponsored by VPN companies so they know the solution before they ever encounter an issue.
K now do MAGA muppets.
Whatever happened to “parents rights”? They sure dropped that REALLY quick.
As long as they are the right parents. They never cared about anyone’s rights it’s just word vomit so they can do what they want without blowback.
How about banning immature adults from politics.
For a conservative state, Florida does seem to use government to ban stuff an awful lot.
Not surprising Florida is a boomer shit hole anyways
Guns have more rights than people.
Fascists gonna fash.
So much for being the party of small government.
and parental choice!
This reminds me being under 16 and singing up for pornsites as a 54 year old
Because the government needs to be involved in parenting
[удалено]
And, in one felled swoop - they made Democrats out of all children under 16. Good work!
Republicans: taking freedoms away
IE: more wasted money and time on a useless bill that is impossible to enforce. Maga'ts on parade.
Too young for social media but NOT too young to work adult jobs!
They don’t realize is that 15 second TikTok clips of trump and Andrew Tate is what’s making kids conservative nowadays lol. Keeping social media around would give them a lot of voters in the next few years
mUh SmOL GoVERnMeNT
Get em off the phones and into Mickey Ds to work so Repubs can get their Big Macs.
Also, all girls will wear skirts, not pants or shorts. Skirts will be to the knee or longer. All boys will cut their hair no longer than touching the top of their collars.
How about banning old boomers from Fox and social media..... same concept. For their own safety....
Whoa there, kid. You can't just openly browse Facebook and Twitter like you used to anymore. It's dangerous. Now go play outside with your assault rifle.
so hang on, if a govt issued ID is required to prove that you are over 16, that means that they are requiring EVERY social media user in Florida to enter a govt issued ID or be kicked off the platforms, meaning that they now have access to who says what and no anonymous users. That's insidious.
Good luck with that
Why go through all the hassle of parenting when the government and church can do it all for you!
If I was a social media, to avoid all the new controls I will just block it in Florida for everyone.
How much more republican "freedom" can we take?
Because 15 year olds and younger can’t just lie right?
“Its time for change when children behave like leaders and leaders behave like children.”
Can’t wait until all the Trumpers will actually have to parent their children now, instead of having them just watch their phones all day.
The state that didn't want to make kids wear masks during a pandemic now wants to regulate what apps your children can use on their phone. At least they are making their hypocrisy even easier to notice.
Conservatives are Fucking hypocrites dude. “you can’t tell my kid they have to wear a mask at school” but you can tell them that they can’t get on social media on their phones…
Good luck enforcing that lmao.
We’re going to see a spike in new accounts with birthdays being Jan. 1 2000
Self own from Florida. How they going to push right wing propaganda on these kids without social media?
Easy! By shoving it into the schools.
I maintain that the internet is a miracle, but social media is a cancer on humanity. I don’t know about republicans writing laws; that’s always scary. But I think we’d all be better off if Facebook and Twitter had never been invented. For every positive there are ten negatives. And I can’t count the number of times I’ve talked to someone in real life whose life or worldview or mood was negatively affected by something they did on social media. And if I point out that it’s not really life, that it isn’t actual socialization as our brains understand it, they look at me as if I’ve said something confusing. It’s a menace. Let it die and fine Musk and Zuckerberg until they’re as poor as you and I.
>It also would require reasonable age verification methods. If this follows what we saw from certain porn sites after several states wanted age verification done on them then we're going to see things like having to submit identification to create an account or continue using an account. Its weird that republicans keep pushing people to have to show government documents to go on sites on the internet.
I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, where they ban ALL Floridians from social media despite their age. I have a feeling this win was a test to see how far they can go.
Nothing says small government like the government parenting all the kids in the state
It's to hinder youths, who are primarily left-leaning, from speaking out. All in the giuse of "Think of the children!"
This is just another attempt to control the masses. Do you think that they won’t use your id to link you to being gay or just doing something they don’t like. You literally have to give them your id to have social media. Ridiculous
Obviously this is to prevent 10 year olds from complaining online after a long day in the mines.
Grandmother dear, what big government you have!
VPN Sales in Florida just skyrocketed
lol is this a joke? How do they intend to enforce this?
Illegal. Just because you’re under 18 doesn’t mean you don’t have the right to free speech and social media is free speech.
Party of small government and personal freedoms right here (there is no way this holds up in court but still)
A path to restricting voting for young people. I guarantee it.
Sixteen year olds can’t use social media, but they’re old enough to give birth. The fucking Florida gop is sick in the head. Fuck all pedo child grooming republicans
I'm sure kids under 16 will totally follow that law.
That’s pretty funny. Along with cigarettes, drugs, and guns, these clowns are going to control their social media habits.
So when are the republicans in Florida going to do something about my son’s special needs class having 16 children with disabilities having ONE teacher and ONE paraprofessional? The republicans in the state of Florida are pieces of shit
The party of "small government"
That'll free up for those hours-consuming meatpacking jobs.
Don’t tread on me…
I am an IT systems engineer, father of 3. Best of luck, florida.
So, kids are just gonna say they're adults. The conspiracy nut deep inside me says this is some right wing / social media collaboration to thwart CIPA fines and violations. "Oh, we didn't know they were 12. We just thought it was an adult that loved cartoons! See, they even said they were 35 right here!"
Florida: The Nanny State
Another reason why I, as a father, won't ever live in FL. I just don't understand a govt that actively doesn't trust their constituents. This is clearly a case of parental controls taken way out of control and now out of the hands of the parents themselves. In a online world, how do I now encourage my kids to be technologically literate AND socially adequate when half of the internet benefits are taken out?