A Florida Senate panel will take up a bill Monday to prevent kids under the age of 16 from having social media accounts; a similar bill already passed the House

With House Speaker Paul Renner making the issue a priority for this year’s legislative session, the Senate Judiciary Committee is slated Monday to take up the Senate version of a bill that seeks to prevent minors under the age of 16 from having social media accounts.

The Senate bill (SB 1788), sponsored by Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, is similar to a measure (HB 1) that overwhelmingly passed the House on Jan. 24.

The bills, in part, would require social media platforms to bar minors under 16 from creating social media accounts.

Also, they would require age verification of people seeking to create accounts and termination of accounts that are “reasonably known” by platforms to be held by minors under 16.

Monday’s meeting will be the first time the issue has been heard in the Senate. Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, last week said she supported the House bill.

But Gov. Ron DeSantis later raised legal concerns about the “breadth” of the measure. That came after Democrats and other critics of the bill suggested that it would violate the First Amendment.