District Court Halts Fla. Social Media Kids Ban on First Amendment Claims
A federal court halted enforcement of a Florida social media law that would prohibit kids 13 and younger from creating social media accounts, requires parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to create them and uses age-verification to implement these restrictions. The ruling by the U.S. District Court for Northern Florida on Tuesday granted a request for a preliminary injunction brought by NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), who say HB-3 violates the First Amendment and poses privacy risks.
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Judge Mark Walker said that NetChoice and CCIA have proven they have standing and that “no matter how Florida’s law is analyzed, it implicates the First Amendment.”
The trade groups' “members face irreparable injury because the law forces them to choose between either incurring unrecoverable compliance costs and curtailing their First Amendment rights to disseminate speech to willing listeners, or risking an enforcement action that could result in penalties of up to $50,000 per violation and attorney fees and costs,” Walker added.
Florida will appeal the decision, the AG office said in an emailed statement to us. “Florida parents voted through their elected representatives for a law protecting kids from the harmful and sometimes lifelong tragic impacts of social media,” a spokesperson said. “These platforms do not have a constitutional right to addict kids to their products. We disagree with the court’s order and will immediately seek relief in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.”
The industry plaintiffs applauded the district court decision. “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,” said CCIA President and CEO Matt Schruers in a statement following the ruling.
“Today’s ruling is yet another affirmation that the government cannot control or censor online speech,” said Chris Marchese, NetChoice’s director of litigation, in a press release.
CCIA and NetChoice originally filed suit in case 24-00438 in October 2024 against former Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R), which the district court dismissed on March 17 for lack of standing. They filed an amended complaint on March 31, switching the suit to be against current AG James Uthmeier (R) (see 2503310040). They renewed their call for a preliminary injunction at the end of April (see 2504280028).
Though the judge granted the preliminary injunction against HB-3, he said he understood the reasoning behind the legislation and left the door open for other possible measures to help regulate social media.
“Although this Court today finds that Florida’s challenged law is likely unconstitutional, it does not doubt that parents and legislators in the state have sincere concerns about the effects that social media use may have on youth, nor does it render parents or the State powerless to address those concerns,” said Walker.
He noted that the order leaves in place state provisions requiring social media platforms to terminate accounts of users younger than 16 at their parent or guardian’s request as an example. “This Court simply recognizes that the First Amendment places stringent requirements on the State to avoid substantially burdening speech unless the State can show that doing so is necessary to achieve its significant interests.”