The Senate Rules Committee reported CS/SB 868 (social media use by minors) favorably after an extended hearing in which prosecutors, law‑enforcement representatives, tech company lawyers, parents and minors debated whether social platforms should be required to provide a mechanism to assist law enforcement in child‑exploitation investigations when a court issues a subpoena or warrant.

Senator Angolia, the bill sponsor, told the committee the proposal is aimed at stopping online grooming and enabling prosecutors to obtain the evidentiary material they need in serious cases: "It is absolutely disgusting, what happens," he said, describing law‑enforcement sting operations where end‑to‑end encryption has frustrated prosecutions. He told the committee the bill would require platforms to have a mechanism — described in committee as a way to decrypt or otherwise preserve message evidence — to comply with lawful subpoenas or warrants in investigations involving minors.

State prosecutors urged action. Amira Fox, State Attorney for the twentieth circuit and vice president of the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, said end‑to‑end encryption has "game‑over" implications for some cases, and that the inability to retrieve messages blocks prosecutions in child‑exploitation investigations. Multiple state attorneys described past cases where platforms returned no data despite investigative subpoenas.

Tech-sector witnesses and privacy advocates opposed the bill’s approach to encryption and to eliminating ephemeral or "vanishing" messages for minors. Representatives from Meta and privacy groups said creating a backdoor or decryption capability would weaken overall security and create a target for hackers and foreign adversaries. Tech witnesses described product features that enable parental supervision without creating systemwide decryption.

Minors and civil‑liberties groups also testified against the bill, warning that the measure could chill speech and create safety risks for youth in abusive households who rely on private messaging. A 16‑year‑old witness told the committee the Fourth Amendment protects minors as well.

Sponsors said the bill targets narrow circumstances (law‑enforcement requests supported by subpoenas or warrants) and prohibits vanishing messages on accounts for minors so evidence cannot be erased prior to lawful review. Senator Angolia said he was willing to give platforms more time for technical compliance and to work with law enforcement; he also said he would consider including warrants in addition to subpoenas.

After the hour‑plus hearing that included dozens of public commenters for and against, the committee voted to report CSR SB 868 favorably.