The governor for weeks signaled that he wasn’t fully on board with the legislation.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a top priority of GOP House Speaker Paul Renner. | John Locher/AP
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday vetoed legislation that would have created strict social media prohibitions for minors in Florida, triggering lawmakers to reconfigure the top legislative priority of GOP House Speaker Paul Renner in the final days of the annual legislative session.
DeSantis for weeks signaled that he wasn’t fully on board with the legislation and decided to block the proposal even as lawmakers made several changes with the hopes of quelling the Republican governor’s concerns. DeSantis’ veto this week went from a possibility to a foregone conclusion as senators, bracing for the move, cleared a path for lawmakers to alter the proposal once again after reaching a deal with the governor.
“I have vetoed HB 1 because the Legislature is about to produce a different, superior bill,” DeSantis wrote on social media Friday. “Protecting children from harms associated with social media is important, as is supporting parents’ rights and maintaining the ability of adults to engage in anonymous speech. I anticipate the new bill will recognize these priorities and will be signed into law soon.”
Florida’s legislation would have required some social media platforms to prohibit anyone younger than 16 from creating an account and mandate that they use a third party for age verification services. While other states have attempted similar ideas, Florida’s aimed to go further by not giving parents an opportunity to allow their children to bypass the potential law.
Lawmakers unveiled a sweeping amendment to the legislation on Friday afternoon just as the bill was vetoed by DeSantis.
Under one notable change, social media companies would be prohibited from giving 14- and 15-year-olds access to platforms unless their parents give consent. This provision marks a significant deviation from the original policy and was a result of negotiations between DeSantis and Renner.
Adding the policy wrinkle was not a “capitulation” to the governor, according to Renner, who said Friday the proposal is a “product of compromise.” Renner expects the revamped legislation to “capture broader public support” and have a better chance of surviving possible legal challenges.
“We’re happy,” Renner told reporters. “We believe that we started out with a very, very good bill and now this bill is even better.”
The veto by DeSantis is one of the more intriguing outcomes of Florida’s 2024 legislative session since it put the kibosh on a bill that Renner has been advocating for the past few months. DeSantis at first raised questions about a lack of anonymity in requiring age-verification in the bill, something lawmakers addressed through an amendment last week. Then, the day the bill was passed by the Legislature, the Republican governor expressed reservations over the proposal excluding parents from the process.
But lawmakers, led by Renner, at the time were unwilling to add a carve-out to the bill that could allow some minors to access social media despite the threat of DeSantis’ possible veto. House members overwhelming supported the bill, passing it 108-7 with a few Democrats voting against while senators backed it 23-14 with five Republicans joining nine Democrats in opposition.
Other states considering similar policies have allowed parents to opt their children out of the restrictions, an idea that was proposed by a Democrat in the Florida House before legislators passed the bill.
DeSantis, who grew into a rising conservative star during the Covid-19 pandemic, has become one of the most powerful governors in state history. Prior to his run for president, he was able to bend the Legislature to go along with measures dealing with education, race, gender identity and China.
As one example, DeSantis in 2022 muscled through a congressional map that resulted in Republicans picking up four seats in Florida. Legislators had initially rejected the governor’s proposal, but they fell in line after he vetoed their first maps and ordered them to create new ones that he wanted.
The new-look social media proposal, FL HB3 (24R), is scheduled to be heard on the Senate floor Monday. It could be sent to the House, pass the full Legislature, and get to DeSantis, who is expected to approve, in the same day.
Florida’s social media bill also targets the ability of minors to access online adult content by requiring websites that publish materials “harmful to minors” to take steps to verify age to prevent anyone younger than 18 from accessing them, a policy expected to face blowback especially from the pornography industry. This piece of the proposal was originally housed in HB 3, the vessel now carrying the social media restrictions.
Republican leaders and Democrats supporting the legislation say the restrictions are meant to curb serious issues plaguing children across the state, including cases of bullying, depression, social pressure and even suicide tied to accessing social media. They contend that its passage could protect kids from human trafficking, potential abuse and other dangers facing them online.
Opponents including social media giants like Meta and several Democrats and Republicans, decried the original bill as a violation of free speech rights that breaks from Florida’s longstanding position of giving parents more power in the upbringing of their children.
To that end, similar social media regulations pursued in Utah are being challenged in court by a trade group associated with Meta, TikTok and X that claims the law violates First Amendment free expression rights. That same trade group, NetChoice, opposed the original Florida proposal and claims it is “unconstitutional and, if enacted, would be swiftly struck down” under federal free speech protections — possible foreshadowing for a legal battle to come.
Florida is already facing a challenge before the Supreme Court over its 2021 law that allows the state to punish social media companies that deplatform elected officials. During oral arguments in that case this week, justices hinted that Florida’s 2021 law may be unconstitutional.
NetChoice officials “applauded” the veto from DeSantis Friday, saying the organization seeks to work with the governor to find “constitutional solutions” for online safety. NetChoice, however, objected to the new changes to the legislation.
Florida’s legislation could still face lawsuits despite the tweaks being considered now, yet Renner said lawmakers aren’t “bracing” for the possibility.
“We’re not bracing for it, we’re inviting it,” Renner said Friday. “We want the courts to look at this issue.”
