TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed the social media restrictions bill, HB 1, on Friday.

In a statement on X, DeSantis said that he expected the Florida Legislature to approve a new bill that he feels would be superior.

"Protecting children from harms associated with social media is important, as is supporting parents’ rights and maintaining the ability of adults to engage in anonymous speech," DeSantis said.

After days of backdoor negotiations, lawmakers are set to reveal the new and improved social media bill to replace the recently vetoed HB 1. The legislative session is scheduled to end March 8.

The original bill threatened to ban minors under 16 from social media, but DeSantis was a skeptic.

Members of the House, the Senate and the governor’s office all made compromises to get to this point.

Big changes are on the horizon.

“We’re happy. We believe we started out with a very good bill, and this bill is even better,” Florida House Speaker Paul Renner said.

The bill still bans those 15 and younger from social media. However, it now allows parents to opt in. That was a major concern for DeSantis.

“Parents need to have a role in this, so we’re working to make sure there’s a role for parents. You can say it’s disfavored or not allowed for a 14-, 15-year-old, but a parent has the right to opt in,” DeSantis said.

Still, there are constitutional concerns. Social media bans have failed in other states. But Florida leaders said they believe this one is different.

“I think ya’ll know me. You know I’m a lawyer. You know that I’m not putting my name on something that I feel would not survive any constitutional scrutiny, and I think the product we’re going to end up with actually does that,” Rep. Michele Rayner said.

In his veto letter, the governor made two main points.

• He believed parents deserve the right to opt in their children.
• He had concerns about data privacy and the process of verifying a user’s age.