What we know: Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that his office participated in 2,100 child predator arrests over the past year, noting that children frequently do not realize they are communicating with adults in online chat rooms. Uthmeier highlighted House Bill 3, a state law banning children under 14 from having social media accounts. Big tech companies sued the state citing First Amendment rights, but Uthmeier noted, “We beat ’em in court.” The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled to uphold the law, allowing Florida to take non-compliant companies to court. It remains unclear when the Florida Legislature might vote on the attorney general’s newest proposed regulations or how quickly app stores and phone companies could implement the required age verification systems. By the numbers: A default quiet mode shutting down social media apps for teen accounts between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.Usage caps restricted to two hours daily and 60 hours monthly for children.A mandatory human physical review within 48 hours whenever a predator, solicitation, or exploitation report is filed.A strict one-strike rule permanently banning adults caught soliciting personal information, photographs, or sexually explicit material.Teenage accounts cannot be promoted outside to other users.Penalties for violations will be upward of $50K. What they’re saying: During Thursday’s press conference, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd praised Uthmeier for targeting child sex predators. “We know the social media app designed specifically to attract children, the gaming apps designed to attract children, are the environment where these predators are going to groom our children,” Judd stated. “It’s not necessarily my kids having more access to the world that’s a huge issue to me, rather the world having more access to them,” said Thorn. “There’s only so much we can do and without those guardrails at the social media companies’ level, it’s hard to do our jobs effectively as parents when they’re targeting our children,” she said. The backstory: App store age verification An overarching proposal seeks to hold phone companies and app stores directly accountable for ensuring proper age verification on social media accounts. Uthmeier stressed the urgency of the regulations, stating, “These things are going to save lives. Our kids are too important.” Polk CountyCrime and Public SafetySocial Media
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