Latest news with #HB3
New York Post
6 days ago
- General
- New York Post
Florida's social media ban for kids halted by federal judge
A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction against Florida's HB 3, a law regarding youth and social media accounts. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee says in court documents obtained by FOX Business that the law is a violation of the First Amendment's protections on free speech. Walker's ruling on Tuesday sides with trade groups NetChoice and Computer and Communications Industry Association, putting HB 3 on hold until the litigation is resolved. 'Today's ruling is yet another affirmation that the government cannot control or censor online speech. Like all Americans, Floridians have the right to access lawful speech without the government controlling what they say, share or see online,' Chris Marchese, NetChoice Director of Litigation, said in a statement. 'Lawmakers should focus on real, constitutional alternatives that respect both family autonomy and free speech,' he continued. HB 3 requires social media platforms to bar users under the age of 14 and requires users 16 and under to have parental consent before opening an account. Getty Images Jeremy Redfern, a spokesman for Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, whose office is defending the law, said in a statement obtained by Reuters that the 'platforms do not have a constitutional right to addict kids to their products.' Uthmeier's office plans to appeal it to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, he said. HB 3 requires social media platforms to bar users under the age of 14 and requires users under 16 to get parental consent before opening an account. It was supposed to go into effect Jan. 1, but was put on hold due to litigation. 'Today's ruling is yet another affirmation that the government cannot control or censor online speech,' NetChoice's director said. Getty Images NetChoice, which represents social media platforms, has won injunctions in recent months against similar laws in Utah and California that restricted the use of social media platforms by youths. In Tuesday's ruling, Walker said he appreciated that parents are concerned about their children's social media use, but that other, unchallenged provisions of the law offered them recourse. The industry groups did not address some parts of the law that directed social media companies to delete youth accounts at parental request.
CBS News
6 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Florida appeals federal judge's ruling which blocks enforcement of social media ban for kids
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier quickly appealed after a federal judge Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction blocking a 2024 state law aimed at keeping children off social media platforms. Uthmeier, who is the defendant in a lawsuit filed by two tech-industry groups, filed a notice of appeal to Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Wilson's ruling to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. As is common, the notice did not detail arguments Uthmeier will make at the Atlanta-based appeals court. Uthmeier also is battling Snap Inc., the operator of Snapchat, in a separate lawsuit about whether the social media company has violated the law. The law, which was one of the biggest issues of the 2024 legislative session, seeks to prevent children under age 16 from opening social media accounts on certain platforms, though it would allow parents to give consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to have accounts. Children under 14 could not open accounts. The law does not directly identify which platforms would be affected by the regulations. But it includes a definition of such platforms, with criteria related to such things as algorithms, "addictive features" and live streaming. Walker's ruling Tuesday said, for example, it would apply to Snapchat and YouTube, which are owned by Google. In the ruling, Walker said the law likely violates First Amendment rights, siding with arguments raised by the industry groups NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association. The groups filed the lawsuit in October. Walker anticipated in Tuesday's ruling that Uthmeier would appeal the preliminary injunction to the Atlanta-based appeals court. He declined to put his ruling on hold while the appeal plays out. "Defendant has every right to appeal, and this court sees no reason to delay defendant in seeking an appeal by requiring him to move to stay," Walker wrote. Parents role in police children's use of social media Supporters of the law have argued it targets addictive features of social media platforms that harm children. But Walker pointed, in part, on the role of parents in policing social media use by their children. "An established principle in the First Amendment context is that enabling individuals to voluntarily restrict problematic content at the receiving end is preferred over restricting speech at the source," Walker wrote in a 58-page ruling. "In this context, that means that parents are best positioned to make the appropriately individualized determinations about whether or when their children should use social media platforms, and if so, which platforms and under what conditions." Florida accuses Snapchat of breaking the law The preliminary injunction applies statewide, but it came amid wrangling in a separate lawsuit that Uthmeier filed in April in state court in Santa Rosa County contending the operator of Snapchat has violated the law. "Despite being subject to HB 3, Snap contracts with and provides accounts to Florida users who it knows are younger than 14," the lawsuit said. "It also fails to seek parental consent before contracting with and providing accounts to Florida users who it knows are 14 or 15 years old. Snap is openly and knowingly violating HB 3, and each violation constitutes an unfair and deceptive trade practice under FDUTPA (a state law known as the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act)." The lawsuit was transferred from state court to federal court through what is known as "removal" by Snap. The company last week asked Walker to put the lawsuit on hold while the broader case filed by NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association plays out. If Walker doesn't issue a stay, Snap argued the judge should dismiss the lawsuit. "The statute categorically bars individuals under age 14 from creating accounts on the websites it covers and requires parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds, infringing on protected speech of minors," Snap's attorneys wrote. "As numerous courts have concluded, requiring minors to obtain parental consent before accessing 'social media' abridges First Amendment rights." But Uthmeier is trying to get the lawsuit moved back to state court. Walker said in Tuesday's decision he would not rule on Snap's request to put the lawsuit on hold until after he decides whether to send it back to Santa Rosa County.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Federal judge halts Florida's social media ban for kids
A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction against Florida's HB 3, a law regarding youth and social media accounts. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee says in court documents obtained by FOX Business that the law is a violation of the First Amendment's protections on free speech. Walker's ruling on Tuesday sides with trade groups NetChoice and Computer and Communications Industry Association, putting HB 3 on hold until the litigation is resolved. "Today's ruling is yet another affirmation that the government cannot control or censor online speech. Like all Americans, Floridians have the right to access lawful speech without the government controlling what they say, share or see online," Chris Marchese, NetChoice Director of Litigation, said in a statement. Texas Bill Pushes Strictest Social Media Ban For Minors In The Nation "Lawmakers should focus on real, constitutional alternatives that respect both family autonomy and free speech," he continued. Read On The Fox Business App Jeremy Redfern, a spokesman for Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, whose office is defending the law, said in a statement obtained by Reuters that the "platforms do not have a constitutional right to addict kids to their products." Uthmeier's office plans to appeal it to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, he said. Snapchat 'Openly Defying' Law, Allowing Kids Access To Harmful, Addictive Content: Florida Ag HB 3 requires social media platforms to bar users under the age of 14 and requires users under 16 to get parental consent before opening an account. It was supposed to go into effect Jan. 1, but was put on hold due to litigation. NetChoice, which represents social media platforms, has won injunctions in recent months against similar laws in Utah and California that restricted the use of social media platforms by youths. Click Here To Read More On Fox Business In Tuesday's ruling, Walker said he appreciated that parents are concerned about their children's social media use, but that other, unchallenged provisions of the law offered them recourse. The industry groups did not address some parts of the law that directed social media companies to delete youth accounts at parental request. Reuters contributed to this report. Original article source: Federal judge halts Florida's social media ban for kids
Engadget
6 days ago
- Politics
- Engadget
Florida's social media law has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge
A federal judge has temporarily blocked Florida's new law that bans some children from using social media and requires parental consent for others, according to court documents. Judge Mark Walker ruled in favor of two tech organizations (NetChoice and the CCIA) representing social media organizations like Meta, Snap and X, saying that the state's bill HB3 signed into law in March this year is "likely unconstitutional." The law requires parent or guardian consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to make an account or use a pre-existing account on a social media platform, while children under 14 are banned altogether. Platforms must abide by requests to delete these accounts within five business days and each violation could result in a $10,000 fine. That increases to $50,000 per instance if it is ruled that the company participated in a 'knowing or reckless' violation of the law. "Floridians have the right to access lawful speech without the government controlling what they say, share or see online,' said NetChoice Director of Litigation, Chris Marchese. The state of Florida tried to bypass normal first amendment free speech protections by employing the "narrowly tailored" rules, saying the law is designed to protect children from five addictive features of social media: push notifications, auto-play videos, live streaming, infinite scrolling and personal metrics. However, the judge ruled that the application is too broad in ways that have been shot down before by the Supreme Court. "As applied to Plaintiffs' members alone, the law likely bans all youth under 14 from holding accounts on, at a minimum, four websites that provide forums for all manner of protected speech: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat," Judge Walker wrote. "It also bans 14- and 15-year-olds from holding accounts on those four websites absent a parent's affirmative consent, a requirement that the Supreme Court has clearly explained the First Amendment does not countenance." Children could also be banned from social media even if the platforms created youth accounts without any of the five addictive features — as long as they were available for adults. The judge also called out the law's specificities about the ability of a child to access a platform based on how much time all children spend on the app. The ruling does leave one provision in place. Social media companies are still required to "terminate any account held by a youth under 16 in the state upon the request of a parent or guardian," as required by the bill. Yahoo, the parent company of Engadget, is a member of NetChoice.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Federal judge blocks enforcement of law barring kids from social media
The Joseph Woodrow Hatchett U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building in Tallahassee, Sept. 27, 2022. Credit: Michael Moline A federal judge blocked on Tuesday the state's enforcement of a 2024 state law requiring social media platforms to delete accounts of kids 15 years old and younger. The preliminary victory for the two trade associations representing social media giants comes after U.S. District Judge Mark Walker had dismissed the suit in March because the companies had not proven they would be affected. However, Walker barred the state from enforcing the law on Tuesday (HB 3), writing that it stifled minors' First Amendment rights and that there were other avenues to combat mental health concerns associated with the use of social media. 'Assuming the significance of the State's interest in limiting the exposure of youth to websites with 'addictive features,' the law's restrictions are an extraordinarily blunt instrument for furthering it,' Walker wrote. NetChoice and Computer & Communications Industry Association, representing companies including Google, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube, filed the suit against the law in October and the former Attorney General Ashley Moody had agreed not to enforce it while the parties waited for a decision from Walker on whether to temporarily block it or allow fines of up to $50,000 per violation. The attorney general's office will appeal Walker's block to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, said Jeremy Redfern, the attorney general's director of communications, in an email to Florida Phoenix. 'Florida parents voted through their elected representatives for a law protecting kids from the harmful and sometimes lifelong tragic impacts of social media,' Redfern wrote. 'These platforms do not have a constitutional right to addict kids to their products.' Walker disagreed with the state's argument that parental control features weren't enough to protect kids from addictive features and that the law only prohibits kids from having accounts and doesn't restrict access to the content altogether. 'While it is true that at least one of these platforms, YouTube, does not require users to be account holders to passively view some content, all require users to hold accounts in order to share one's own content—in other words, to speak,' Walker wrote. CCI's president and CEO, Matt Schruers, celebrated the ruling. 'This ruling vindicates our argument that Florida's statute violates the First Amendment by blocking and restricting minors—and likely adults as well—from using certain websites to view lawful content,' he wrote in a press release. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
