In general, HB-3 seeks to prevent children under the age of 16 from opening social media accounts; children between the ages of 14 and 15 may open accounts with parental permission, whereas younger children cannot open any accounts.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed a lawsuit claiming that the owner and operator of the popular app Snapchat attempted to circumvent a 2024 law intended to keep children off certain social media platforms.
According to CBS News, the lawsuit was filed Monday in a Santa Rosa County circuit court.
Last month, a federal judge rejected a request by large tech companies to issue an injunction against the law. Sometimes referred to as HB-3, the law requires certain companies to make a good-faith effort to ensure that young children cannot open accounts without parental approval.
In general, HB-3 seeks to prevent children under the age of 16 from opening social media accounts; children between the ages of 14 and 15 may open accounts with parental permission, whereas younger children cannot open any accounts.
The law’s proponents claim that these classification criteria relate to different applications’ potential for addiction. In the case of Snapchat, the state alleges that the app’s use of “push notifications” is inherently problematic and, potentially, exploitative.
“Push notifications exploit users/ natural tendency to seek and attend to environmental feedback, serving as distractors that monopolize attention,” the lawsuit alleges. “Young users are especially sensitive to these triggers and are less able to control their response and resist reopening the app. Snapchat sends push notifications to users, regardless of age, frequently and at all hours of the day and night.”
The lawsuit also took issue with Snapchat’s disappearing messages.
“The disappearing nature of Snapchat content contributes to the app’s harm to young people,” it says. “This aspect of Snapchat encourages users to open the app and keep coming back to it constantly, and it preys on minor users who are especially sensitive to a fear of missing content.”
“Despite being subject to HB-3, Snap contracts with and provides accounts to Florida users who it knows are younger than 14,” the lawsuit alleges. “It also fails to seek parental consent before contracting with and providing accounts to Florida users who it knows are 14 or 15 years old. Snap is openly and knowingly violating HB-3, and each violation constitutes an unfair and deceptive trade practice under [the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act].”
Social media and technology companies have repeatedly challenged the law’s legality; in March, Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ruled against a request for a preliminary injunction, saying that the groups hadn’t established they had standing to sue.
“While states certainly have a legitimate interest in protecting minors who use such services, restricting the ability of minors (and adults) to access them altogether is not a narrowly tailored means of advancing any such interest,” attorneys for the tech industry said. “In a nation that values the First Amendment, the preferred response is to let parents decide what speech and mediums their minor children may access—including by utilizing the many available tools to monitor their activities on the internet. Like similar laws that have preceded it, HB-3 violates the First Amendment.”
Sources
Florida attorney general sues Snapchat, claims it’s violating state’s social media law
Florida sues Snapchat owner for allegedly addicting children, deceiving parents
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