Florida Bans Social Media For Minors Under 14
Florida has just passed a new law prohibiting children under 14-years-old from having social media accounts regardless of parental consent.
Under the law which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2025, social media companies must close accounts they believe to be used by minors under 14 – and must cancel accounts at the request of parents or minors. All information from the accounts must then be deleted, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Minors who are 14 or 15 will be able to obtain a social media account with parental consent. If a parent does not consent, accounts already belonging to teens within that age range must be deleted.
“Being buried in those devices all day is not the best way to grow up—it’s not the best way to get a good education,” Governor Ron DeSantis (R) said on Monday during an event to celebrate the signing of the bill.
The new law doesn’t name which platforms it applies to, however social media sites which rely on features such as notification alerts and autoplay videos are subject to it.
Supporters of the law have pointed to recent studies linking social-media use among young adults to a higher risk of depression and mental-health challenges. It can also make them vulnerable to online bullying and predators. -WSJ
“A child, in their brain development, doesn’t have the ability to know that they’re being sucked into these addictive technologies, and to see the harm and step away from it,” said Florida House Speaker Paul Renner (R) at the same event. “And because of that, we have to step in for them.”
In response to the law, TikTok says it has policies to protect teens, and will continue to work to keep the platform safe. Snapchat and X didn’t respond to a WSJ request for comment.
Other states have seen similar legislation proposed, however the bills all stop short of Florida’s total ban. In Arkansas, a federal judge blocked an age verification law for social media users and parental consent for minors’ accounts.
In response to the Arkansas law, social media trade association NetChoice, of which Facebook parent Meta, TikTok and Snap, sued the state to halt the law. It has brought similar legal challenges in California and Ohio.
According to NetChoice VP and general counsel Carl Szabo, the Florida law “forces Floridians to hand over sensitive personal information to websites or lose their access to critical information channels,” adding “his infringes on Floridians’ First Amendment rights to share and access speech online.”
“There are better ways to keep Floridians, their families and their data safe and secure online without violating their freedoms,” he added.
Florida expects to be sued over the new law, however Speaker Renner says he’s confident it will withstand legal scrutiny.
“We’re gonna beat them, and we’re never, ever gonna stop,” he said.
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Trump Tells Israel it Made ‘Big Mistake’
Former US President Donald Trump has warned that Israel is “losing a lot of support”and must “finish up” its war in Gaza before its reputation declines any further. The comments represented a rare moment of criticism of the Jewish state by Trump.
In an interview with Israel Hayom partially published on Monday, Trump said that he would have acted “very much the same way as you did” if the US was attacked like Israel was by Hamas in October. “Only a fool would not do that,” Trump added.
However, Trump called Israel’s wholesale destruction of civilian homes in Gaza “a very big mistake.”
“It’s a very bad picture for the world. The world is seeing this…every night, I would watch buildings pour down on people,” Trump continued.
“Go and do what you have to do. But you don’t do that,” he told the Israeli newspaper. “And I think that’s one of the reasons that there has been a lot of kickback. If people didn’t see that, every single night I’d watch and every single one of those… And I think Israel wanted to show that it’s tough, but sometimes you shouldn’t be doing that.”
Read more White House believes Netanyahu deliberately ‘provoking’ US – Axios
Trump was a close ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his term in the White House, and described himself as “history’s most pro-Israel US president.” He imposed sanctions on Iran at Netanyahu’s request, moved the US embassy in Israel to West Jerusalem, and brokered the Abraham Accords, which saw Israel normalize relations with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan.
However, this relationship soured after Netanyahu congratulated US President Joe Biden on his electoral victory over Trump in 2020. Speaking to Fox News in October, Trump claimed that Netanyahu was “not prepared” for Hamas’ attack. At a campaign event later that day, Trump declared that Netanyahu needed to “straighten out” his intelligence apparatus.
With the war in Gaza approaching the six-month mark, the former president urged Netanyahu to bring it to a swift conclusion, telling his Israeli interviewers that “you’re losing a lot of support” internationally.
“You have to finish up your war,” he said. “You gotta get it done. And, I am sure you will do that. And we gotta get to peace, we can’t have this going on.”
Read more UN envoy accuses Israel of ‘genocide’ in Gaza
Netahyahu has vowed to continue fighting until Israel achieves “total victory over Hamas,” and has promised to invade the city of Rafah – currently home to more than a million displaced Gazan civilians – in defiance of the White House’s pleas. The Israeli leader on Monday canceled a visit to Washington by an Israeli delegation to discuss the planned Rafah operation, after the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The resolution passed thanks to the US abstaining from the vote. Given Washington’s typically unconditional support for Israel at the UN, the abstention and failure to veto by the US was seen by pundits as an historic show of dissatisfaction with Netanyahu’s conduct in Gaza.
Israel declared war on Hamas on October 7, after the militants carried out a cross-border raid, killing more than 1,100 people and taking at least 250 hostages. Israeli forces have killed more than 32,000 Palstinians in the time since, according to the enclave’s health authorities.
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Putin Says Barack Obama Is a ‘Legitimate Military Target’ Following Moscow Attack
Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded with “cold rage” to the Moscow concert hall bombings claimed by ISIS, according to Russian FSB sources who reveal the Kremlin has warned Washington that former president Barack H. […]
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Unbelievable: New AI Ad Will Make You Question Reality
Social media is going wild over a woman advertising body wipes for men.
The only thing is — everything about the woman, from her voice, to her eyes to her hair, are entirely AI generated.
In a head-spinning example of a new AI advertising platform known as Arcads, which creates ads using “AI actors,” a woman appears as though she’s delivering a social media lecture on male hygiene.
However, it soon becomes clear she’s reading a pre-written script pushing a product, and her eyes don’t exactly match up with the cadence of the words she’s saying.
“You’re not gonna believe this,” wrote one user.
“It’s all AI. And you can leverage this in your marketing too,” he wrote, adding, “Imagine what we will be able to do 1 year from now.”
You’re not gonna believe this.
— Linus ●ᴗ● Ekenstam (@LinusEkenstam) March 26, 2024
it’s all AI. and you can leverage this in your marketing too.
imagine what we will be able to do 1 year from now
pic.twitter.com/RQ8DJNYRzW
Other X users also took notice of the technological advancement, with another writing, “This is AI. It’s actually so over.”
This is AI.
— Ate-a-Pi (@8teAPi) March 26, 2024
It’s actually so over.
pic.twitter.com/ZgsMAzLTTK
“It’s terrible but I still think it’s wild that this can all be done with AI. Imagine in 6 months,” wrote another X user.
It’s terrible but I still think it’s wild that this can all be done with AI. Imagine in 6 months… pic.twitter.com/L1ycB3IkAk
— Beck ? (@beckylitv) March 25, 2024
The video is an example of the Arcads platform at work, explained in the video below:
Gone are the days of badly generated AI videos of Will Smith eating spaghetti and fake pizza restaurant commercials.
Henceforth, videos of people online may have to be viewed with a certain level of skepticism.
The future of AI is here and it’s alarming!
Lara Logan: Baltimore Bridge Collapse Was an ‘Inside Job’
The Baltimore bridge collapse was an ‘inside job’ by US intelligence agencies working on behalf of the global elite to destroy US critical infrastructure, according to award-winning journalist Lara Logan. Earlier on Tuesday, the Francis […]
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Tulsi Gabbard: Barack Obama Is Illegally Serving a Third Term
Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard told Tucker Carlson this week that Barack Obama is illegally serving a third term as President, with Joe Biden taking orders directly from Obama and his team. Gabbard says Barack […]
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