Desantis Vetoes Florida's Social Media Restrictions For Minors

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 House Speaker Paul Renner in the final days of the 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 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 the changes, social companies would be prohibited from giving 14- and 15-year-olds access to platforms unless their parents give consent.

The veto by DeSantis is one of the more surprising 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 idea, passing the bill 108-7 with a few Democrats voting against while senators backed it 23-14 with five Republicans joining nine Democrats in opposition.

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 legislation 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 map.