Florida seeks immediate limits on teens’ use of Meta

Filed 42m ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Krampus Workshop

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Missvain · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a motion Wednesday seeking a temporary injunction forcing Meta to immediately limit minors' access to Facebook and Instagram, arguing the company still violates the state's 2024 law banning under-14s from social media and requiring parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds. He wants Meta to cap teen screen time at two hours, end late-night notifications, stop infinite scrolling and remove features like like counts.

Florida declined to join an August settlement in which Meta agreed with 47 states and D.C. to similar time caps and notification limits, potentially paying up to $17.1 billion in civil penalties. Uthmeier argues that deal doesn't cover a single Florida child and amounts to a slap on the wrist given Meta's profits.

Meta's chief legal officer previously said the settlement's success depends on other platforms adopting the same standards. Uthmeier's office has separately sued Snapchat, TikTok and Roblox over related child-safety and age-verification concerns.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Skipping a settlement because it's too weak and then suing for something stronger is at least a consistent position, which is more than you can say for most fights over kids and phones. Whether a judge grants a screen-time cap by court order is another matter entirely. But it's hard to blame an attorney general for not trusting a company's own promise to behave, when that promise arrived only after four dozen states sued to get it.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Krampus Workshop · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0