DeSantis signs ‘Digital Bill of Rights’ into law

WILDWOOD, Fla. (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the “Digital Bill of Rights” into law Tuesday, which aims to give Floridians more control over the personal data companies use.

DeSantis said the legislation, SB 262, establishes a number of protections for Floridians – with respect to the “digital sphere.”

The law prevents government-led censorship by prohibiting state or local government employees from colluding with Big Tech companies to censor protected speech.

The legislation was carried by Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island, and Rep. Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota.

Additionally, a governmental entity may not initiate or maintain any agreements or working relationships with a social media platform for the purpose of content moderation.

It will require Google, and other large search engines to disclose whether they prioritize search results based on political or ideological views or based on monetary considerations, DeSantis explained.

“This is a very robust series of protections for Floridians, I think it’s going to make a big difference,” DeSantis said.

“This empowers Floridians. You are not just going to be at the mercy of a big brother looking over everything you do and collecting all the information about you without your consent,” DeSantis said.

The legislation gives people the right to confirm access and delete personal data from a social platform. It also gives people the right to opt out of having personal data sold.

The law also adds “biometric data” and “geolocation information” to the definition of “personal information” under the Florida Information Protection Act.

The legislation will ensure that online platforms that are providing services, games or products targeted to children will not collect, sell or share the personal data of a child.

“It’s very difficult with with with kids, because like our kids, six, five and three, you know, they’ll grab our phones, and they’ll just start typing stuff in. They know how to do this stuff very quickly, it’s something that they learn,” DeSantis said.

“I think a lot of parents are concerned about how some of this stuff is operating,” DeSantis said.

The legislation prohibits online operators from engaging in targeted advertising practices based on information collected from educational technology and prohibits the online operators from sharing, selling, or renting student data to third parties.

DeSantis said they have been working on this for a few years but had hurdles to “get it right.”

Rep. Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota, said it has taken a long time to get the bill right because every company knows the most important thing they have is our data.

“This bill will give Floridians the ability to know what information big tech companies are collecting about them,” McFarland said.

“This is huge folks. […] There is so much data out there about us. These big tech companies know our every thought, our behavior, the next step we’re going to take, whether we’re gonna turn left or right at a traffic light, and Floridans are creeped out about how much data is out there,” she said.

McFarland said the bill will give people the ability to decide whether they are comfortable with that or not.