District Court Blocks Georgia Age-Verification Social Media Law
A district court on Thursday granted a preliminary injunction against a 2024 Georgia law aimed at protecting kids by requiring age verification and parental consent for minors to create social media accounts. However, Georgia's attorney general signaled that the state will continue to fight for the law.
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NetChoice last month sued Georgia AG Christopher Carr (R) over SB-351 in the U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia, alleging it violates the First Amendment and poses digital safety and security risks (see 2505010024). The court agreed the law was unconstitutional.
The Georgia law “is undoubtedly aimed at protecting young people from ... dangers," but in "attempting to do so, it also implicates at least three distinct First Amendment interests,” said Judge Amy Totenberg.
“The State seeks to erect barriers to speech that cannot withstand the rigorous scrutiny that the Constitution requires, and the inapt tailoring of the law -- which is rife with exemptions that undermine its purpose -- dooms its constitutionality and calls into question its efficacy,” the judge continued.
Georgia "will continue to defend commonsense measures that empower parents and protect our children online," a spokesperson for the AG office said in an emailed statement to Privacy Daily.
NetChoice celebrated its district court win. “This is a major victory for free speech, constitutional clarity and the rights of all Georgians to engage in public discourse without intrusive government overreach,” said Chris Marchese, the tech industry group's director of litigation, in a press release following the ruling. “SB 351 isn’t just poorly crafted -- it’s profoundly unconstitutional.”
“This ruling reaffirms that even well-intentioned laws must pass constitutional muster,” Marchese added. “Free expression doesn’t end where government anxiety begins. Parents -- not politicians -- should guide their children’s lives online and offline -- and no one should have to hand over a government ID to speak in digital spaces.”
NetChoice has filed litigation against similar laws in other states, such as Ohio, where a federal judge permanently enjoined an age-verification law in April (see 2504160049). In Arkansas, a district court permanently enjoined a social media safety act as unconstitutional at the end of March after a suit from NetChoice (see 2504010044).
But last week, a federal court declined to block a Tennessee age-verification law, ruling NetChoice -- which sued for First Amendment and privacy reasons in October -- did not establish the necessary requirements to warrant an injunction (see 2506200017).