Privacy Law Library

Protection of Children in Online Spaces

Florida Children in Online Spaces Law

Children · Location

Created by the same 2023 bill as the Florida Digital Bill of Rights, this section limits how online platforms predominantly accessed by children may process minors' data. It bars processing that the platform knows or willfully disregards may cause substantial harm or privacy risk to children, restricts profiling, data collection beyond what is needed, precise geolocation, and dark patterns, and places the burden of proof on the platform.

Where
Florida
Citation
Fla. Stat. 501.1735
Status
In force
In force since
2024-07-01
Last amended
2026-04-23
Enforced by
Florida Department of Legal Affairs (Attorney General), exclusively
People can sue
No
Penalties
Unfair and deceptive trade practice enforceable solely by the department; civil penalty up to $50,000 per violation, tripled where the platform has actual knowledge the child is under 18; discretionary 45-day cure period (501.1735(4)).
Applies to
  • Online platforms (social media platforms as defined in s. 112.23(1), online games, and online gaming platforms) that provide an online service, product, game, or feature likely to be predominantly accessed by children under 18 (501.1735(1)(e), (2))

Practices it requires

  • Do not process a child's personal information if the platform knows or willfully disregards that the processing may result in substantial harm or privacy risk to children.Fla. Stat. 501.1735(2)(a)
  • Do not profile a child unless appropriate safeguards exist and profiling is necessary for the feature the child is actively using, or there is a compelling reason it poses no substantial harm or privacy risk.Fla. Stat. 501.1735(2)(b)
  • Do not collect, sell, share, or retain personal information not needed for the feature the child is knowingly using, or use it for a purpose other than the one for which it was collected, absent a demonstrated compelling reason.Fla. Stat. 501.1735(2)(c)-(d)
  • Collect, sell, or share a child's precise geolocation only when strictly necessary and only for as long as needed, and show the child an obvious sign while it is being collected.Fla. Stat. 501.1735(2)(e)-(f)
  • Do not use dark patterns to lead children to provide more personal information, forgo privacy protections, or take harmful actions; do not reuse or over-retain data collected to estimate age.Fla. Stat. 501.1735(2)(g)-(h)

Other duties

  • A platform that processes children's personal information bears the burden of showing the processing does not violate subsection (2).Fla. Stat. 501.1735(3)

Sources

Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.

Unverified: Effective date inferred from the general July 1, 2024 effective-date clause of ch. 2023-201 (s. 27); ch. 2023-262 (public-records exemption) was not separately fetched. | last_amended reflects ch. 2026-52 (conforming public-records change, effective April 23, 2026).

Research reference, not legal advice.