Florida's landmark social media law took effect after a major legal victory in November when the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for implementation. HB 3, which bans children under 14 from creating social media accounts and requires parental consent for users ages 14 and 15, passed the Legislature in March 2024 and was signed that same month by Governor Ron DeSantis. The law represented a signature priority for then-House Speaker Paul Renner, who argued that "a child in their brain development doesn't have the ability to know that they're being sucked into these addictive technologies."
Attorney General James Uthmeier moved swiftly to enforce the law after defeating Big Tech's legal challenge. He warned noncompliant platforms of $50,000-per-violation fines that could accumulate into billions of dollars. Meta responded by announcing compliance effective in early May, and Uthmeier confirmed that Meta has suspended hundreds of thousands of accounts belonging to underage users. By contrast, TikTok and Google, which owns YouTube and YouTube Kids, have remained silent about their compliance plans and have effectively ignored the law's requirements.
Uthmeier sued TikTok in June for violating HB 3 by allowing underage accounts to persist and failing to secure parental consent from older teens. "TikTok knowingly deceives parents and allows children to be exposed to harmful and inappropriate content in direct violation of Florida law," Uthmeier stated. He emphasized that "we have zero tolerance for companies that prioritize profit over children's safety." At a subsequent press conference, Uthmeier directed his message toward other holdouts, telling YouTube and other platforms: "You got to wake up. This is real and you can save lives."
Google's continued silence is particularly striking given YouTube's dominance in teens' online activities. Research from Pew found that roughly 90 percent of U.S. teenagers use YouTube, surpassing all other platforms, with about 75 percent using it daily. The exposure risks are well documented: 46 percent of parents with children ages 11 and younger who use YouTube reported their child had encountered inappropriate content on the platform. Even YouTube Kids, which is rated for ages 4 and up, has been found to serve children content on topics like gender ideology and systemic racism, according to congressional testimony. Whether Google, TikTok, Roblox, and other platforms will follow Meta's lead remains uncertain. If they do not comply, Uthmeier indicated that companies "will have to open up your checkbook."