Controversial Florida bill banning teens on social media prompts public, professional scrutiny

ORLANDO, Fla. - First Amendment Attorneys have an issue with HB 1. They say limiting what teenagers can say and where they can say it is a problem.

The bill, which just passed in Florida’s House of Representatives, says if you’re under 16, you can’t have a social media account. Plain and simple.

Only, Carl Szabo, the Vice President of NetChoice, says it isn’t all that simple.

"This law is straight up unconstitutional," said Szabo. "The type of thing that our founders feared when they created the First Amendment."

HB-1 says social media platforms would have to use, quote, "reasonable age verification methods to verify the ages of account holders." It says that means, "any commercially reasonable method regularly used by government agencies or businesses for the purpose of age and identity verification."

D. Gill Sperlein, the President of the First Amendment Lawyers’ Association, feels that description isn’t very clear.

"The law uses a lot of terms that just aren’t defined well," said Sperlein. "They’re very vague, so it makes it difficult to comply."

The bill would require users to prove they’re over the age of 16. That means everyone would have to prove their age, not just teenagers. One way to do that would be to submit a photo ID.

So you might have to submit a photo ID, for instance, to prove you’re over the age of 16.

"That means the annihilation of anonymity online, and that means ID for the internet, something that should terrify every single Florida resident, regardless of political ideology," said Szabo.

Plus, Sperlein points out, people are sometimes uncomfortable sharing their personal information.

"We all know that even the largest and the most secure companies have data breaches," said Sperlein.

Utah had a similar bill, enacting age restrictions and ID verification.

That passed last year, but was just put on hold as it faces several legal challenges.