Governor Ron DeSantis signed a social media bill on March 25 that prohibits children under the age of 14 from owning any social media account on any platform such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, or Twitter.

Children ages 14 and 15 can become account holders with parental consent.

Critics disagreed with the bill, saying it restricts children’s freedom of speech.

We interviewed some John Hopkins scholars to get their opinions.

Esparanza Corona, a sixth grader, said, “It makes sense that they want to put that law there because it would protect them from any bad influences from those kinds of social platforms.”

Clarissa Galan – also a sixth grader – stated, “I feel like it could be fair in some ways because kids tend to do very stupid things on the internet, and they should not be posting themselves on the internet because that could be dangerous.”

Sixth-grader Andrea Santana’s opinion is “I think it is really unfair because band kids should be able to state their opinions about instruments that they really like.”

The law goes into effect Jan. 1, 2025.