TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida’s governor signed into law another TikTok ban Tuesday. It’s expected to bar millions of state and school-issued devices from the app.
While signing a slate of education related bills in Miami Tuesday, the governor approved HB 379. The policy prohibits students from using TikTok on district-owned devices and blocks anyone from using the app as a means of promoting school activities.
It’s the second bill the governor has signed this week that cracks down on TikTok usage in Florida.
On Monday, the governor approved barring government issued devices from having access to the China-based social media platform, saying that the restrictions “make it very clear we don’t want the CCP (the Chinese Communist Party) in the Sunshine State.”
”We need to maintain the highest standards for safety, for security, and for data integrity and companies like TikTok very much put that in doubt,” social media expert Ryan Cohn said.
One issue that’s easily identifiable with the TikTok ban on school networks is students could easilty turn off the school Wi-Fi and gain access to the app. However, addtitional provisions in the new law also allow teachers to prohibit cell phone use entirely in the classroom.
“Students are going to do what students are going to do, but it’s important for students to understand how they could be inadvertently violating or putting the integrity of data,” Cohn said.
The social media safety bill also requires that students in grades six through 12 receive instruction on the social, emotional, and physical effects of social media. It must include instruction on the harmful effects of social media on mental health.
Both TikTok bans on government and school devices go into effect on July 1.
