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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to public records; amending s. 2
501.1736, F.S.; providing an exemption from public 3
records requirements for information relating to 4
investigations by the Department of Legal Affairs of 5
certain social media violations; authorizing the 6
department to disclose such information for specified 7
purposes; providing a definition; providing for future 8
legislative review and repeal of the exemption; 9
providing a statement of public necessity; providing a 10
contingent effective date. 11
12
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 13
14
Section 1. Subsection (9) of section 501.1736, Florida 15
Statutes, as created by HB 1 or similar legislation, 2024 16
Regular Session, is renumbered as subsection (10) and a new 17
subsection (9) is added to that section to read: 18
501.1736 Social media use for minors. — 19
(9)(a) All information held by the department pursuant to 20
a notification of a violation under this section o r an 21
investigation of a violation of this section is confidential and 22
exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State 23
Constitution, until such time as the investigation is completed 24
or ceases to be active. This exemption shall be construed in 25
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conformity with s. 119.071(2)(c). 26
(b) During an active investigation, information made 27
confidential and exempt pursuant to paragraph (a) may be 28
disclosed by the department: 29
1. In the furtherance of its official duties and 30
responsibilities; 31
2. For print, publication, or broadcast if the department 32
determines that such release would assist in notifying the 33
public or locating or identifying a person that the department 34
believes to be a victim of an improper use or disposal of 35
customer records, except that information made confidential and 36
exempt by paragraph (c) may not be released pursuant to this 37
subparagraph; or 38
3. To another governmental entity in the furtherance of 39
its official duties and responsibilities. 40
(c) Upon completion of an investigation or once an 41
investigation ceases to be active, the following information 42
held by the department shall remain confidential and exempt from 43
s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution: 44
1. Information that is otherwise confidential or exempt 45
from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State 46
Constitution. 47
2. Personal identifying information. 48
3. A computer forensic report. 49
4. Information that would otherwise reveal weaknesses in 50
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the data security of a social media platform. 51
5. Information that would disclose the proprietary 52
information of a social media platform. 53
(d) For purposes of this section, the term "proprietary 54
information" means information that: 55
1. Is owned or controlled by the social media platform. 56
2. Is intended to be private and is treated by the social 57
media platform as private because disclosure would harm the 58
social media platform or its business operations. 59
3. Has not been disclosed except as required by law or a 60
private agreement that provides that the i nformation will not be 61
released to the public. 62
4. Is not publicly available or otherwise readily 63
ascertainable through proper means from another source in the 64
same configuration as received by the department. 65
5. Reveals competitive interests, the discl osure of which 66
would impair the competitive advantage of the social media 67
platform who is the subject of the information. 68
(e) This subsection is subject to the Open Government 69
Sunset Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand 70
repealed on October 2, 2029, unless reviewed and saved from 71
repeal through reenactment by the Legislature. 72
Section 2. The Legislature finds that it is a public 73
necessity that all information held by the Department of Legal 74
Affairs pursuant to a notification of a viol ation of s. 75
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501.1736, Florida Statutes, or an investigation of a violation 76
of that section, be made confidential and exempt from s. 77
119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and s. 24(a), Article I of the 78
State Constitution for the following reasons: 79
(1) A notification of a violation of s. 501.1736, Florida 80
Statutes, may result in an investigation of such violation. The 81
premature release of such information could frustrate or thwart 82
the investigation and impair the ability of the department to 83
effectively and efficien tly administer s. 501.1736, Florida 84
Statutes. In addition, release of such information before 85
completion of an active investigation could jeopardize the 86
ongoing investigation. 87
(2) Release of information that is otherwise confidential 88
or exempt from public records requirements once an investigation 89
is completed or ceases to be active would undo the specific 90
statutory exemption protecting that information; thus, 91
clarifying that any protections currently afforded to such 92
information are not removed. 93
(3) An investigation of a violation of s. 501.1736, 94
Florida Statutes, is likely to result in the gathering of 95
sensitive personal identifying information, which could include 96
identification numbers, unique identifiers, professional or 97
employment-related information, and personal financial 98
information. Such information could be used for the purpose of 99
identity theft. The release of such information could subject 100
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families to possible privacy violations, as it would reveal 101
information of a sensitive personal nat ure. 102
(4) Notices received by the department and information 103
generated during an investigation of a violation of s. 501.1736, 104
Florida Statutes, are likely to contain proprietary information. 105
Such information derives independent, economic value, actual or 106
potential, from being generally unknown to, and not readily 107
ascertainable by, other persons who might obtain economic value 108
from its disclosure or use. Allowing public access to 109
proprietary information through a public records request could 110
destroy the value of the proprietary information and cause a 111
financial loss to the social media platform. Release of such 112
information could give business competitors an unfair advantage. 113
(5) Information held by the department may contain a 114
computer forensic report or i nformation that could reveal 115
weaknesses in the data security of a social media platform. The 116
release of this information could result in the identification 117
of vulnerabilities in the cybersecurity system of the social 118
media platform and be used to harm the social media platform and 119
clients. 120
(6) The harm that may result from the release of 121
information held by the department pursuant to a notification or 122
investigation of a violation of s. 501.1736, Florida Statutes, 123
could impair the effective and efficient a dministration of the 124
investigation and thus, outweighs the public benefit that may be 125
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derived from the disclosure of the information. 126
Section 3. This act shall take effect on the same date 127
that HB 1 or similar legislation takes effect , if such 128
legislation is adopted in the same legislative session or an 129
extension thereof and becomes a law. 130