3 days ago
Judge blocks Florida law banning social media accounts for children
June 3 (Reuters) - A Florida federal judge has halted enforcement of a law in the state that would have barred most social media platforms from allowing youth to have accounts, saying it is a violation of the First Amendment's protections on free speech.
Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee granted a motion for a preliminary injunction on Tuesday, siding with trade groups NetChoice and Computer and Communications Industry Association in holding that it unconstitutionally restricted the speech of children. Under the ruling, the law will be on hold until the litigation is resolved.
Jeremy Redfern, a spokesman for Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, whose office is defending the law, said in a statement 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.
The ruling is the latest win for the industry groups that represent companies like Google and Meta Platforms, the operators of YouTube and Facebook, and have successfully challenged similar laws in states across the country.
'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's director of litigation, said in a statement after the ruling.
The law, known as H.B. 3, required social media platforms to bar users under the age of 14 and require users under 16 to get parental consent before opening an account. It was set to take effect January 1.
While the law was in effect in April, Florida sued Snap, the owner of photo-sharing app Snapchat, accusing it of illegally employing features that addict children and opening accounts for children aged 13 and younger. Florida called Snap's conduct "particularly egregious" because the Santa Monica, California-based company markets Snapchat as safe for 13-year-olds, even though it can be used to view pornography and buy drugs, among other harmful activities.
The case against Snap, which said the law infringes on children's First Amendment rights, is ongoing, court records show.
NetChoice has won injunctions in recent months against similar laws in Utah and California that restricted the use of social media platforms by youth.
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.
