A judge has blocked enforcement of an Ohio law limiting kids’ use of social media during litigation
Columbus, Ohio — A federal judge on Monday extended enforcement of an Ohio law that requires children under 16 to get parental permission to use social media apps as a legal challenge continues.
U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley’s decision to issue a preliminary injunction prevents the law from taking effect while a lawsuit filed by NetChoice earlier this month makes its way through the courts. NetChoice is a trade group that represents TikTok, Snapchat, Meta, and other major tech companies. The group challenges the law as overly broad, vague and an unconstitutional barrier to freedom of expression.
The law was originally scheduled to take effect Jan. 15 and is similar to laws passed in other states, including California and Arkansas, where NetChoice has won lawsuits.
In his decision, Marbley said NetChoice is likely to prevail on its First Amendment free speech arguments.
“There is no indication that the state has an aversion to the type of content intended to appeal to children – cartoons and the like,” he wrote. “’Websites that children can access’ is not a subject or topic. While covered platforms include topics likely to appeal to children, most also include topics ‘as diverse as human thought.’”
The law requires companies to obtain parental consent for social media and gaming apps and provide privacy guidelines so families know what content on their child’s profile is censored or moderated.
The Social Media Parental Notification Act was part of an $86.1 billion state budget bill that Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed in July. The administration pushed the measure as a way to protect children’s mental health, with Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted saying at the time that social media was “intentionally addictive” and harmful to children.
After Monday’s decision, Husted said the state is evaluating its next steps.
“It is disappointing, but it will not deter us from our responsibility to protect children from exploitative social media algorithms that are creating a crisis of depression, suicide, bullying and sexual exploitation among our children,” he said in a statement. could solve this problem without passing new laws, but they refuse to do so. Because social media companies are not responsible, we must hold them accountable.”
But Marbley pointed out that Ohio law is not structured to prevent children from exploring the Internet once they get parental permission, and that it does not appear to attempt to limit individual social media features — such as “infinite scrolling” — which are prohibited. named as the most harmful.
“The approach is untargeted because parents only have to give permission once to create an account, and parents and platforms are otherwise not obliged to protect themselves against the specific dangers that social media can pose,” he said.
The judge also called it “eyebrow-raising” that the law makes an exception for children to access “established” and “widely recognized” news media without defining what that means, and bans children from accessing product reviews, but not reviews for services or art.
NetChoice filed suit against Attorney General Dave Yost in January in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Marbley issued a temporary injunction shortly thereafter.