Social Media

The groups claim the law violates the First Amendment and posits that parents should be the ones to decide what platforms or websites their children access and use.

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood on Florida’s Atlantic Coast is warning parents that if their kids are arrested for making these threats, he’ll make sure the public knows it.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Legislature approved the law after Facebook and Twitter, now known as X, blocked former President Donald Trump from their platforms after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The arguments are the latest steps in a high-profile lawsuit that started in 2021, after DeSantis and Republican lawmakers placed restrictions on large social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube.

Lawmakers are seeking limits for Instagram and TikTok out of concern they harm kids’ mental health. But some researchers and pediatricians question whether there’s enough data to support that conclusion.

After a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month, Florida and tech-industry groups could be poised to resume a legal battle about a 2021 state law aimed at placing restrictions on social media platforms.

This week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz about presidential politics and the new direction for the Democratic Party. Then, we discussed regulating free speech on social media, a recent SCOTUS decision on a Florida social media law, phone bans in schools, NIL deals for high school athletes, Olympians from Florida heading to Paris and the southernmost property for sale.

The law, which will take effect Jan. 1, seeks to prevent children under age 16 from opening social media accounts on at least some platforms — though it would allow parents to give consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to have accounts.

The gathering of up to 500 people in May resulted in a number of fights breaking out and several businesses sustaining damage. She was charged with inciting a riot.

The Texas and Florida laws were signed by Republican governors in the months following decisions by Facebook and Twitter to cut then-President Donald Trump off over his posts related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

The court sided with the administration in a dispute with GOP-led states over how far the federal government can go to combat controversial posts on topics including COVID and election security.

Researchers reveal that social influencers are sharing unsubstantiated claims about the side effects of some birth control methods ranging from infertility to depression.