By Faith Montalvo
TAMPA, Fla. — A bill is advancing through the Florida Senate that could help law enforcement investigate crimes committed against minors over social media, but its requirements may pose a serious security risk for everyone else if it is passed. With online sexual exploitation and abuse being a serious global issue, we need to find a way to keep children safe on social media.
This year, a study by Georgia State University School of Public Health estimated that one in 12 children worldwide has experienced online sexual exploitation or abuse. In 2024, the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute found that at least 300 million children worldwide experience it every year. People also use social media to groom, control, and recruit victims for human trafficking, and children are some of the most vulnerable to these pursuits.
The Senate Committee on Rules approved SB 868, or “Social Media Use by Minors,” on April 16 with a unanimous vote, so it will be on the Senate floor this year. Here are the three primary things the bill would do if passed by the Florida Senate.
Decryption of End-to-End Encryption With a Subpoena
The first thing the bill would do is require social media platforms to create a tool to decrypt end-to-end encryption when law enforcement or prosecutors obtain a subpoena. During the committee meeting, attorneys testified that finding evidence to prosecute offenders who have exploited minors online is difficult. This is especially because messages are secured with encryption.
Amira Fox, the state attorney for the 20th Judicial Circuit of Florida, said social media platforms cannot report to prosecutors when subpoenaed because the companies themselves do not access messages between accounts.
“This is attracting a lot of people who want the end-to-end encryption for nefarious purposes,” Fox said to the committee.
But the issue with creating a tool or mechanism for decrypting is that it creates a backdoor that others could obtain.
Brad Patrick, a communication professor at The University of Tampa and civil attorney who offers legal counsel on technology and internet issues, said technology for investigating these crimes already exists.
“They want the shortcut handed to them, instead of accepting the possibility that strong security may put some communications beyond their reach,” said Patrick in an email. “Such is the price to be paid for letting the rest of us maintain security, even minors.”
Patrick also said that strong encryption and security protect everyone, and requiring companies to create these decryption tools would put everyone’s safety at risk.
“It is folly to assume that only the ‘good guys’ will have access to the backdoor tools,” said Patrick.
Allowing Parents and Legal Guardians to Access Messages
The second thing the bill would do is require social media companies to allow parents or legal guardians to view a child’s messages on their account. It would also allow them to request that a minor’s account be terminated.
The concern with this is that parents may not give their children privacy as they speak with others on social media. If we believe that minors should have the same First Amendment rights as everyone else, then this could breach those rights in the name of protecting them.
At the same time, if parents had access to conversations between their child and strangers over social media, it would help prevent terrible situations that the child could have been tricked into. We do not realize how easy it is to find ourselves in exploitative situations even as adults, and we shouldn’t expect the majority of 14- and 15-year-olds to be just as safe by themselves.
Restrictions on Disappearing Messages
The third part of the bill would prohibit minors from using or accessing messages that are designed to disappear. This is also intended to keep evidence available to prosecutors, law enforcement, and parents so they could see the conversations a minor is having, or had, with others. Though similarly to allowing parents to have access to a minor’s messages, this also poses a privacy concern.
What Should We Do?
Children are some of the most vulnerable people in our population, so we can’t brush off the problem of online sexual exploitation and abuse. It’s difficult to have a strong stance on this bill because of its sour mix of promises and challenges. But if you do, you could always write to our representatives in the Florida Senate and share your opinion.
We should also help educate others on internet safety. Shared Hope International and the Child Rescue Coalition have resources available about keeping children safe on the internet. If we take time to learn about the issue and stay aware of it, we could find ourselves in a position to prevent others from being harmed or help them recover from what could be the darkest side of social media.
In a hypothetical world where legislation does what it is intended to do, SB 868 would be a great bill because it would allow parents to prevent their child from talking to terrible people, and prosecutors could get more evidence in criminal cases. But if it’s passed, it will come with multiple risks, and we have to wait as the Florida Senate makes its decision.
–-
Photo courtesy of Merakist on Unsplash.