Florida’s Governor Signs One of Country’s Most Restrictive Social Media Bans for Minors

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TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida will have one of the country’s most restrictive social media bans for minors — if it withstands expected legal challenges — under a bill signed by Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday.  The bill will ban social media accounts for children under 14 and require parental permission for 15- and 16-year-olds. It was slightly watered down from a proposal DeSantis vetoed earlier this month, a week before the annual legislative session ended. The new law was Republican Speaker Paul Renner’s top legislative priority. It takes effect January 1.  “A child in their brain development doesn’t havemore

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US Vice President: Banning TikTok ‘Not at All the Goal’

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 Austin, Texas — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said the Biden administration has no intention to ban TikTok, the popular short video application from Chinese company ByteDance.  Harris told ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday that a ban was “not at all the goal or the purpose of this conversation.”    The White House urged the Senate last week to swiftly advance a bill that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok over privacy and national security concerns within six months or face a ban.   U.S. officials and lawmakers worry that the Chinese government could access American consumers’ data on the platform, whichmore

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TikTok Bill Faces Uncertain Fate in Senate

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WASHINGTON — The young voices in the messages left for North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis were laughing, but the words were ominous. “OK, listen, if you ban TikTok I will find you and shoot you,” one said, giggling and talking over other young voices in the background. “I’ll shoot you and find you and cut you into pieces.” Another threatened to kill Tillis, and then take their own life. Tillis’s office says it has received around 1,000 calls about TikTok since the House passed legislation this month that would ban the popular app if its China-based owner doesn’t sell its stake.more

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