NetChoice Sues Arkansas Over Amendments to Enjoined Social Media Age-Verification Law
NetChoice filed an additional lawsuit against Arkansas late Friday as it attempted to block a pair of measures that would amend the state’s 2023 Social Media Safety Act, which a court ruled unconstitutional in late March following a NetChoice challenge (see 2504010044).
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The state Senate approved both amendments easily in April after the U.S. District Court for Western Arkansas on March 31 blocked Arkansas AG Tim Griffin (R) from enforcing the original law (see 2504080058, 2504010044 and 2504070008). Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed them into law later that month (see 2504250042); she said the measures were meant to remedy the issues brought up in NetChoice's complaint and allow the Act to go into effect.
The first measure would expand the Social Media Safety Act’s “coverage to sweep in a much broader range of online services,” NetChoice argued. “And instead of repealing the (still enjoined) age-verification and parental-consent requirements, [the amendment] leaves the substantive obligations untouched, dramatically ratchets up the penalties for violating them, and heaps on a requirement that covered websites ‘implement technological measures to prevent circumvention of age verification protocols.’”
The other amendment creates a private right of action for parents or those 18 and older to bring charges against a social media platform for its features, algorithms or designs that led to a minor experiencing harm, especially if it relates to suicide or a suicide attempt.
In addition to claims of unconstitutionality, NetChoice also alleges that the two amendments are preempted by the Communications Decency Act.
“Politicians cannot control what protected speech you see, say or share online -- according to the Supreme Court itself," said Paul Taske, NetChoice’s associate director of litigation, in a press release. “Parents -- not bureaucrats -- should control how their children engage online. Arkansas must stop trying to censor its citizens and focus on real, constitutional alternatives that respect both family autonomy and free speech.”
A spokesperson for the Arkansas AG office said it is “reviewing the complaint and look[s] forward to defending the law” in an emailed statement to us.