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Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

reuters.com

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Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#171

Post by Hugsun »

repler wrote: post #10
setgree wrote: post #3

I support this in theory, but good luck trying to outmaneuver teens on the internet. I foresee a proliferation of age faking tools, VPNs, etc.

You may be surprised to learn that when asked, teens would actually prefer that everyone give up social media. The key word is “everyone” and it’s a collective action problem. Excellent article in The Atlantic titled “End the Phone Based Childhood Now” which covers this extensively. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/03/teen-... The study cited in this excellent - but paywalled - article is here: htt…

I forgot about that, that's huge. A bad Nash equilibrium to the benefit of tech companies and advertisers and the detriment of young people.

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#172

Post by palmfacehn »

bvasilchenko wrote: post #36

Ah! The good old party of small government, individual liberties and free market. Well done sticking to your principals sirs and madams!

In other news, 2024's 1.2T budget was recently approved.

All roads lead to Rome. Both parties generally seek to expand the scope of the state. Although there are a few Republican senators who lean towards minarchist principles.

Expect the cultural right to demand social media verification to protect the children. The illiberal left might demand ID verification to protect the public from the scourge of dangerous misinformation and hate speech.

The rationalizations will vary for either side of the spectrum. The two goal posts have been positioned. Don't be surprised when the free-kick goes down the middle and Digital ID is presented as a panacea.

https://www.google.com/search?q=digital+ID+site%253Aweforum....

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#173

Post by redserk »

I think this adds an incredible amount of risk to almost any US-based social media site, big or small, regardless of which state you're in.

You can't 100.0% block all Floridians from accessing your site, especially with GeoIP databases. This means someone who is close enough to the border of Alabama or Georgia with an IP address reportedly in another state could easily find reason to sue you.

And because you're in the US, you can easily be made to show up in a costly court battle over state lines.

This is horrifying news for small/medium sized social media sites.

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#174

Post by Gud »

Clubber wrote: post #158
macintux wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve gotten by for the last several years without Facebook or Google (I do use a YT account, but not for anything meaningful). It’s annoying, but doable.

>I’ve gotten by for the last several years without Facebook or Google (I do use a YT account, but not for anything meaningful). It’s annoying, but doable. I think the point is that the internet and particularly social media is now the de-facto town square. States are basically requiring identification to speak or criticize government in the town square. If you take a step back and look at it that way, it's grossly an…

It’s not a defacto town square though.

If anything, these services are more similar to shopping malls. And don’t be surprised when the mall cop throws you out for causing a scene, or just lounging about and not consuming enough.

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#176

Post by everforward »

Clubber wrote: post #158
macintux wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve gotten by for the last several years without Facebook or Google (I do use a YT account, but not for anything meaningful). It’s annoying, but doable.

>I’ve gotten by for the last several years without Facebook or Google (I do use a YT account, but not for anything meaningful). It’s annoying, but doable. I think the point is that the internet and particularly social media is now the de-facto town square. States are basically requiring identification to speak or criticize government in the town square. If you take a step back and look at it that way, it's grossly an…

I can't reply to the other responder, but even if these are shopping malls... Those are already acknowledged as common spaces at least in California where most of them are headquartered. Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins, it was held that a shopping mall was not allowed to remove students asking for signatures on a motion.

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#177

Post by joezydeco »

e_i_pi_2 wrote: post #104
awkward wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because at 18 people are responsible for their own actions, and restricting them after that is unreasonable and contrary to personal freedom. There's a consistent factoid going around that brains aren't done developing until the age of 25. It's frequently used as an argument to restrict young people. Looking at performance by age in fields like math and music, declining brain plasticity seems more like a reason to im…

> Because at 18 people are responsible for their own actions This is only because we arbitrarily picked an age - we used to consider people responsible for their own actions at much younger ages, it makes sense to change the number when we get new science supporting that. If the argument is that we shouldn't use brain development as a reason to restrict young people, then why not lower the drinking age again or get r…

This right here. Seems like the USA is all about arbitrary rules, isn't it?

You can join the military and drive a tank into war at 18, but god forbid we let you have a beer afterward.

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#178

Post by kelseyfrog »

jl6 wrote: post #166
vsnf wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed there are. There are many hills I’ll die on, and while this isn’t one of them, I do find it deeply uncomfortable to so clearly deny a whole category of citizens representation.

Why so uncomfortable though? We routinely stop children doing all kinds of things, for exactly the same reason (lack of maturity in decision-making).

Maybe that's an opportunity to reevaluate those restrictions rather than make the argument that because restrictions exist that one is as good as another.

It's about as logical as saying, "we put people in jail, therefore it's ok that you go to jail." The nuance and reasoning is the point.

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#179

Post by odessacubbage »

aurareturn wrote: post #74
reacharavindh wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not speaking from personal experience. My kid is only 4. Your argument seems like exactly what my parents would have said about me spending so much time on TV, computers and electronics instead of studying, playing outside, sports etc. Almost exactly like your last paragraph.. “I’m personally glad that I grew up without infinite channels on TV, computers and its games, cell phones and your SMSes. I’m worried about yo…

I think there are magnitudes and cliffs for this stuff. TV --> has quality control, professionally done, goes through a team of editors/creators before making it onto the screen Early internet --> Mostly harmless content, can find dark stuff if kids look for it but it's pretty hard to find. More dangerous than TV but not too bad. SMS --> just chatting with people you know. Not afraid. TikTok, IG Reels, Youtube Shorts…

as a parent you have all the control. why does your kid need a tablet? why do they need a smart phone like at all? these devices did not just magically materialize in your home, the tooth fairy didn't put them there. you chose to plop your toddler in front of a screen because electronic vicodin was easier than parenting and then you chose not to lock down their devices with the abundant parental controls you are given and then you decided you couldn't be assed to teach them basic internet safety habits or how to develop healthy skepticism and that seeing isn't always believing. really the only thing your children have been '''exposed to''' is your own laziness and utter unwillingness to offer them direction. the world will continue to exist whether we like it or not, and some day our kids will have to live in it just like we do. we can either prepare them for what's really there, warts and all or we can hide them away only toss them to the wolves when they turn 18 with the delusion that this somehow preserved their innocence. i personally believe giving them the grace of a childhood to learn how to deal with the bumpy parts of life is a much kinder option.

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#180

Post by dbbk »

lolinder wrote: post #111
evantbyrne wrote: post #99

Pretty wild to watch the basic rights of people in red states backslide in real time. Now there is the (what should be unnecessary) legal question of whether you can even run a social media platform with anonymous users in the state of Florida. Needing de facto governmental verification to communicate with people on the internet is something I had hoped I would never live to see in America. Hopefully it will not be f…

There isn't really such a question. The law explicitly requires anonymous third-party age verification to be offered as an option. There are definitely concerns about how well that will work in practice, and I would definitely want to wait and see how it works in Florida before advocating for a wider rollout, but this Florida bill is actually the most reasonable of these age verification requirements rolled out to da…

"Anonymous third-party age verification" is an oxymoron. You can't verify age anonymously.
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