#i do and don't like this

[beardedmrbean]

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a Florida bill prohibiting children under 14 from joining social media.

Parents can sue social media companies for $10k for not promptly deleting an account of a child under 14.

Similar bills signed in other states have faced constitutional challenges from NetChoice LLC.

A new Florida bill could open the floodgates for parents to sue for up to $10,000 if social media companies fail to remove flagged accounts of their underage children in a timely manner.

The new bill, HB3, was signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday. It prohibits children under 14 from being on social media. Children ages 14 and 15 need their parent's consent to join the platform.

The Florida Gov. argued pedophiles are taking advantage of children on the apps. The Speaker of the Florida House, Paul Renner, echoed those concerns and also brought up mental health concerns associated with the platforms.

"You can have a kid in the house safe seemingly and then you have predators that can get right in there into your own home," DeSantis said at the bill signing ceremony. "You can be doing everything right, but they know how to manipulate these different platforms."

The bill requires social media companies to delete already existing accounts that belong to children under 14, by the child's request within five business days, or a parent's request within 10 business days. For 14 or 15-year-old children, the account must be confirmed by a parent. If it isn't, the user has 90 days to file a dispute before being terminated.

Companies that allow minors access after being aware of their age could be responsible for up to $50,000 in penalties or fines per violation if the charges are found to be a "consistent pattern of knowing or reckless conduct."

Parents can also sue companies on behalf of their child if the platform doesn't comply and take down the account, potentially receiving up to $10,000 in damages.

Privacy vs. protection

While the legislation is set to go into place by January 2025, Stacey Lee, a professor of law & ethics at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School said the bill will likely face "significant legal obstacles" related to First Amendment issues.

Lee said regulating social media has become a "hot-button political issue," but these efforts are consistently met with constitutional hurdles, which DeSantis has acknowledged.

The bill's effectiveness in preventing minors from accessing social media also remains questionable, Lee said.

"Regulating the digital landscape for minors without infringing on these principles presents a formidable challenge calling for thoughtful consideration and innovative solutions," Lee said.

Other states with similar bills like California, Utah, Ohio, and Arkansas, have been challenged by tech coalition NetChoice LLC for signing similar laws. Both California and Arkansas received preliminary injunctions and Ohio received a temporary restraining order on its social media law, according to spokesperson Krista Chavez. The case in Utah hasn't had its hearing yet.

NetChoice is a major coalition of social media platforms opposing these restrictions and it includes TikTok, Meta, Google, and X among others. NetChoice has cited privacy concerns in its reasoning against these kinds of laws.

Chavez said NetChoice has repeatedly expressed constitutional concerns with HB3 in public statements, testimony, and in a letter to Gov. DeSantis about the bill.

NetChoice Vice President & General Counsel Carl Szabo referred to HB3 as a "bad policy" in a statement shared with BI.

Szabo said the bill poses a data risk because it forces users to hand over sensitive personal information to websites or lose their access to information channels. It also infringes on First Amendment rights to share and access online speech, he said.

"We're disappointed to see Gov. DeSantis sign onto this route," Szabo said in the statement. "There are better ways to keep Floridians, their families, and their data safe and secure online without violating their freedoms."

Another attempt at regulating social media

DeSantis voted against a more restrictive version of the bill that proposed banning social media for children under 16 and required proof of ID to join social media.

The governor said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that he "vetoed HB 1 because the Legislature is about to produce a different, superior bill."

It's not the first time the Florida governor has focused his legislation on protecting children.

DeSantis passed a bill last year that restricted children's use of cellphones in the classroom.

"Being buried in those devices all day is not the best way to grow up," DeSantis said at the signing ceremony. "It's not the best way to get a good education."

The latest bill follows a series of legislative attempts from the government to place restrictions on social media.

An attempt to ban or force a sale of TikTok recently passed the House on March 13 with 352 votes in favor of the bill. It will next be voted on by the Senate, at which point, if it passes, it will end up on the desk of President Joe Biden — who has said he'd sign it.

[bumblingbabooshka]

Vulcan teen on Vulcan [tiktok] saying "I have just lost track of my father in the grocery store." The camera turns to show the viewers the grocery store in which almost every single older middle-aged man has a bowlcut and long robes. Camera turns back to show the teen's face which is expressionless and yet communicates all it needs to.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

that article going around abt firefox's new ad program is annoying bc it's phrased as though "mozilla has finally TURNED on its people and is SELLING YOU OUT for cold hard cash!!" when. that's not what's happening. it is specifically being implemented to discourage tracking behavior, and literally all the data they are giving to advertisers is aggregate and anonymized, which is like, the opposite of what that post wants you to worry about, lol

[captainjonnitkessler]

>Join a union

>Hear people constantly complaining that the current union leadership is super corrupt, it's all just the same ten guys making all the decisions in secret and nobody else in the union ever gets to know what's going on

>Go to the monthly union meetings that are completely open to all 1200 union members

>The only attendees are the same ten guys every month, giving detailed reports about everything that's going on

[some-pers0n]

I'm always entertained by people doing those "canon VS fanon" memes where both are misunderstanding characters to such a violent degree 'cause like

[12neonlit-stage]

you're allowed to discuss and work together, reblog for a higher sample size or something

You have 1 week, good luck!

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[lgbtlunaverse]

The world exists in such a baffling state of simultaneous sex-aversion and sex-hegemony. Every social platform on the internet is trying to banish sex workers to the shadow realm but I can't post a tweet without at least two bots replying P U S S Y I N B I O. People are self-censoring sex to seggs and $3× but every other ad you see is still filled with half-naked women. Rightwingers want queer people arrested for so much as existing in the same postal code as a child and are also drumming up a moral panic about how teenage boys aren't getting laid enough. I feel like I'm losing my mind.

[thelaurenshippen]

watching bridgerton and obviously there were a lot of things wrong with the way socializing has worked in the past, but honestly the idea of a "calling hour" is so appealing. office hours for friendship. you can show up unannounced at my home between 1 and 3pm. you must leave by 3pm. I may give you a pastry. lets bring that back

[beebfreeb]

[acorviart]

not to sound like a boomer, but I need some people to learn how to write emails in a semi-professional (at the very least) format so you're not cold emailing a business/potential employer/any other stranger about formal matters in the exact same way you'd DM a close friend on instagram

the formality/language can loosen up in the email chain once you've established a rapport and you match the other person if they're being less formal, but please don't have the very first email you send a stranger be written in all lowercase ultra-casual sms slang with no greeting or signature and a billion emojis

[ace-and-ranty]

I gotta say, one of the greatest achievements of my 20s was that I learned (mostly) to differentiate between:

"I truly do not want to go" and

"I'm just feeling the Demand Avoidance, and I will like it once I get there."

[inkskinned]

i got rickrolled today but it didn't work because i have adblocker installed, so youtube just told me i violated the terms of service. yesterday i was trying to edit a picture as a joke for my girlfriend, and google made me check a box to prove i'm human because i wasn't "searching normally".

it isn't just that capitalism is killing fun and whimsy, it is that any element of entertainment or joy is being fed upon by this mosquito body, one that will suck you dry at any vulnerability.

do you want to meet new friends in your city? download this app, visit our website, sign up for our email list. pay for this class on making a terrarium, on candlemaking, on cooking. it will be 90 dollars a session. you can go to group fitness, but only under our specific gym membership. solve the puzzle, sign up for our puzzle-of-the-month-club. what is a club if not just a paid opportunity - you are all paying for the same thing, which makes you a community.

but you're like me, i know it - you're careful, you try the library meetings and the stuff at the local school and all of that. the problem is that you kind of want really specific opportunities that used to exist. you are so grateful for libraries and the publicly-funded things: they are, however, an exception - and everything they have, they've fought tooth-and-nail to protect. you read a headline about how in many other states, libraries have virtually nothing left.

do you want to meet up with your friends afterwards? gift your friends the discord app. you can choose to go to a cafe (buy a coffee, at least), a bar (money, alcohol) or you can all stay in and catch a movie (streaming) or you can all stay in bed (rent. don't get me started) and scream (noise complaint. ticket at least).

you want to read a new book, but the book has to have 124 buzzwords from tiktok readers that are, like, weirdly horny. you can purchase this audiobook on audible! your podcast isn't on spotify, it's on its own server, pay for a different site. fuck, at least you're supporting artists you like. the art museum just raised their ticket price. once, they had a temporary exhibit that acknowledged that ~85% of their permanent art galleries were from cis white men, and that they had thousands of works by women (even famous women, like frida! georgia o'keefe!) just rotting in their basement. that exhibit lasted for 3 months and then they put everything away again.

walmart proudly supports this strip of land by the street! here are some flowers with wilting leaves. its employees have to pay out-of-pocket for their uniforms. my friend once got fined by the city because she organized a community pick-up of the riverfront, which was technically private property.

no, you cannot afford to take that dance class, neither can i. by the way - i'm a teacher. i'm absolutely not saying "educators shouldn't be paid fairly." i'm saying that when i taught classes, renting a studio went from 20 bucks an hour to 180 in the span of 6 months. no significant changes to the studio were made, except they now list the place as updated and friendly. the heat still doesn't work in the building. i have literally never seen the landlord who ignores my emails. recently they've been renting it out at night as an "unusual nightclub; a once-in-a-lifetime close-knit party." they spent some of those 180 dollars on LEDs and called it renovating. the high heels they invite in have been ruining the marley.

do you want to experience the old internet? do you want to play flash games or get back the temporary joy of club penguin? you can, you just need to pay for it. i have a weird, neurodivergent obsession with occasionally checking in to watch the downfall and NFT-ification of neopets. if i'm honest with you all - i never got into webkins, my family didn't have the money to buy me a pointless elephant. people forget that "being poor" can mean literally "if i buy you that toy, i can't afford rent."

you and i don't have time to make good food, and we don't have the budget for it. we are not gonna be able to host dinner parties, we're not made of money, kid. do you want some kind of 3rd space? a space that isn't home or work or school? you could try being online, but - what places actually exist for you? tiktok counts as social media because you see other people on it, not because they actually talk to you.

there was a local winter tradition of sledding down the hill at my school. kids would use pizza boxes and jackets and whatever worked, howling and laughing. back in september, they made a big announcement that this time, rules were changing, and everyone must pay 10 dollars to participate. when im not scared shitless, i kind of appreciate the environmental irony - it hasn't gone below 40. so much for snow & joyriding.

i saw a bulletin for a local dogwalking group and, nervous about making a good first impression, showed up early. the first guy there grimaced at me. "sorry," he said. "there's a 30-dollar buy-in fee." i thought he was joking. wait. for what? the group doesn't offer anything except friendship and people with whom to walk around the city.

he didn't know the answer. just shrugged at me. "you know," he said. "these days, everything costs money."

[beaft]

it is legit bizarre to me how hard video game creators and film directors and showrunners try to pretend that fat people don't exist. can you think of the last time you saw a fat person in a lead role? god forbid a fat woman? i can walk down the street or go into a shop or restaurant and see fat people everywhere but then i switch on the tv and suddenly it's like a glimpse into an alternate universe where no one has a bmi over 24. insidious and weird

[callisteios]

i made a character uquiz. i 100% promise you that you will get a character you know AND like

[hinamie]

10 years later