PTC Commends FL Legislature for Prioritizing Online Child Protection, Urges FL Governor to Sign HB 1 Into Law

LOS ANGELES (February 27, 2024) – The Parents Television and Media Council (PTC) commended the Florida legislature for passing HB 1 that would prohibit minors from creating new social media accounts, among other protections, to protect minors from harmful online content, and called on Gov. Ron DeSantis to sign this into law.

“There’s a tidal wave of harm directed to children and teens on social media platforms – and Florida’s legislature rightly recognizes these harms and has acted to protect children. We call on Gov. DeSantis to sign HB 1 into law,” said Melissa Henson, vice president, Parents Television and Media Council.

“We commend Florida and other states that have taken steps to establish protections for children, despite the inevitable legal challenges from tech industry lobbying groups that would rather have tech platforms be accountable to no one for the harms platforms can cause to our children.

“Children are marketed to, preyed upon, and used for profit by technology companies. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, continues to be revealed by media outlets, whistleblowers, and lawsuits as fueling child sexual exploitation, providing a platform for pedophiles, and enabling sexually explicit and other harmful content that targets teens, especially teen girls. Snapchat has been used to “lure and sexually exploit children.” The New York Times reported that X/Twitter has struggled to confront its child sexual exploitation problem. Parents are suing Roblox over sexual content on its platform. Children have even tragically resorted to suicide because they have faced sextortion threats online – because Big Tech refuses to do more than the bare minimum to protect them.

“Our elected leaders need to hold platforms accountable by passing online child protection bills like HB 1 and others,” Henson said.