THE FLORIDA SENATE

SENATE DEMOCRATIC OFFICE

Location
228 Senate Building
Mailing Address
404 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1100
(850) 487-5833
Professional Staff: David Cox, Staff Director
LAUREN BOOK Senate’s Website: www.flsenate.gov BOBBY POWELL
Democratic Leader Democratic Leader Pro Tempore

May 11, 2021

The Honorable Ashley Moody

Attorney General, State of Florida
Office of the Attorney General
The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399

Dear Attorney General,

It has recently come to our attention that of the 44 state attorneys general that have signed on to
support a national effort to discourage Facebook from creating a new Instagram social media
platform for young children, your name was not among the supporters.

We, the undersigned members of the Florida Senate Democratic Caucus, strongly urge you to
reconsider that position.

As the states’ top prosecutors noted, children are ill-equipped to deal with the dangers lurking in
online activity, everything from bullying to sexual predation. Such exposure at young ages can
also have a profound and detrimental impact on mental health, sparking eating disorders, self-
injury, and even suicide. The risks to our children far outweigh any possible benefit Facebook is
proffering, and there is little comfort in the company’s assurances of proposed parental controls
which kids will invariably find ways to circumvent.

On all counts, this is a very bad idea, designed more to guarantee future profit-making for a
social media giant than children’s privacy.

Given your past actions against human trafficking, we were extremely disappointed to see that
your name was not among those signing on to the letter from the National Attorneys General
Association, which called on Facebook to abandon the Instagram for Kids platform. And it
begged the question of whether the culture wars against deplatforming actions by social media
companies currently being waged by Florida’s governor in support of the former president’s hate
speech is influencing your choice to remain silent on this issue.

WILTON SIMPSON AARON BEAN

President of the Senate President Pro Tempore
May 11, 2021
Page 2

The calls to Facebook to rethink its actions are hardly partisan, in fact the letter was signed from
both Democratic and Republican attorneys general, including those from New York, South
Carolina, and even Texas, all of them recognizing the inherent risks to our nation’s children
should this dangerous platform launch as planned.

Florida should be among them.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

The Florida Senate Democratic Caucus

Sen. Lauren Book, Democratic Leader

District 32

Sen. Loranne Ausley Sen. Lori Berman

District 3 District 31

Sen. Randolph Bracy Sen. Janet Cruz

District 11 District 18

Sen. Gary M. Farmer, Jr. Sen. Audrey Gibson

District 34 District 6
May 11, 2021
Page 3

Sen. Shevrin Jones Sen. Jason Pizzo

District 35 District 38

Sen. Tina Polsky Sen. Bobby Powell

District 29 District 30

Sen. Darryl Rouson Sen. Linda Stewart

District 19 District 13

Sen. Annette Taddeo Sen. Perry E. Thurston, Jr

District 40 District 33

Sen. Victor M. Torres, Jr.

District 15