NetChoice: Ohio Social Media Age Verification Act Violates First Amendment
The Ohio Social Media Parental Notification Act violates the First Amendment, and NetChoice “indisputably has standing” to bring a case, the trade association argued Friday at the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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In August, Ohio Attorney General David Yost (R) had argued the opposite in case 25-3371. The state law requires websites targeting children younger than 18 to obtain parental consent before engaging in contracts with minors (see 2508200032).
Minors “have the ‘right to speak or be spoken to,’” and the Ohio law “violates that right by preventing covered websites from disseminating protected speech to minors unless the minors first secure parental consent,” said NetChoice, which represents large internet and social media companies.
It also cited parental-consent laws in other states that have been enjoined, such as Arkansas (see 2504010044), Georgia (see 2506260054) and Florida (see 2506030057) as support for blocking Ohio’s law.
NetChoice said the Ohio law is content-based because access will be restricted based on topics discussed on a platform. Also, the trade association said other courts have recognized its standing to bring claims in cases like these.
In April, the U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio blocked the law in case 2:24-cv-00047 (see 2504160049). Yost asked the 6th Circuit to reverse the court's decision (see 2504180031).