Twitter and other social media platforms that allow their websites to be used to promote the sexual exploitation of children would be subject to civil suits and fines under Sen.’s new bills in Florida. Jennifer Bradley and rep. Scott placon.

Bradleys Senate Act 1308 and placons House bill 995Both filed on Monday, responding to cases where sexually explicit pictures and videos of children have appeared on the sites and have persisted even after complaints from individuals and families.

From one perspective, the bills represent another legislative effort to regulate the accountability of social media platforms. In many cases, these efforts have been spearheaded by angry Conservative Republicans who have been disappointed with the decisions taken by Twitter and other platforms to ban various Conservatives like the former president Donald TrumpIn terms of content, the platforms were wrong or against their standards.

In this case, however, the same accountability arguments are used to make the platforms more cautious about what they allow and they are accused of disregarding decency. Efforts also target the dark activities of human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children.

In particular, Plakon, a Republican from Longwood, pointed to the case of one of his constituents, a Lake Mary teenager who was partially implicated in a child trafficking program when he was 13. When he was 17, a video of this horrific experience appeared on Twitter. The boy and his parents objected to Twitter, but it took the company nine days to remove the images. At that point, the video had garnered more than 167,000 views and 2,223 retweets.

This incident is subject to one Federal lawsuit filed in California by the Haba Law Firm of Longwood last month in US District Court.

“As adults and as leaders, we have a responsibility to ensure that children are protected from cybercrime, public humiliation and online harassment,” Bradley said in a press release. “If social media companies don’t do our part to keep them safe, we will.”

She is a Republican from Fleming Island.

“As we see in this and other cases, predators have used social media for far too long to harm children,” said Plakon. “If online platforms like Twitter refuse to stop these crimes on their own, we will empower parents to hold them accountable.”

HB 995 and SB 1308 allow parents or guardians to sue companies if they fail to dismantle the materials within 24 hours of a written complaint. The bills would also allow the Florida Attorney General to prosecute the companies and impose fines on platforms that refuse to remove sexually explicit pictures and videos from children after the companies are notified by a parent or guardian of the minor child .

The company could face fines of up to $ 100,000 a day in Florida, and the money would go to the state’s Crimes Compensation Trust Fund. Legislation would also give the courts the power to order damages and to grant fair relief, including an injunction, to a prevailing claimant. The legislation would also allow the court to award punitive damages if the defendant’s conduct was intentional.

The attorney representing the 17-year-old Lake Mary boy in the federal lawsuit, Lisa Habais a former Florida District Attorney specializing in prosecuting human trafficking cases now represents Trafficking in human beings and clients for sexual abuse in civil matters. In the press release, she praised the Bradley and Plakon legislation.

“Our lawsuit seeks to shed light on how Twitter has enabled and benefited from child sexual abuse material on its platform. It selects gains over people, money over child safety, and prosperity at the expense of human freedom and dignity.”