The Florida House of Representatives recently passed legislation to ban social media for anyone younger than 16. The measure is now in committee in the state senate.
New York hasn't gone so far as to introduce legislation to ban social media for teens. But Gov. Kathy Hochul has expressed her support for two pieces of legislation: one which aims to crack down on kids being targeted by addictive feeds, and another that targets the collection and sharing of personal information.
Other states have considered similar legislation, but most have not proposed a total ban. In Arkansas, a federal judge blocked enforcement of a law in August that required parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts.
The Florida bill would require social media companies to close any accounts it believes to be used by minors and to cancel accounts at the request of a minor or parents. Any information pertaining to the account must be deleted.
Opponents argued that the bill would violate the First Amendment and take away benefits some children get from social media. And they said parents should make the decisions on which sites their children can visit.