Florida AG Fires Back: First Amendment Isn't a Shield for Business Practices
A Florida law that would ban kids from social media doesn't violate the First Amendment, said Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) in a brief filed Friday that asks a federal court to reverse a preliminary injunction on the law.
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His reply slammed the arguments of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and NetChoice, which asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm a lower court’s block of HB-3 (see 2509120040) as well as the American Civil Liberties Union and other consumer groups that submitted amicus briefs in support of the trade organizations (see 2509220045).
The law in question in case 25-11881 would ban kids 13 and younger from creating social media accounts, require parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to create them and use age-verification to implement these restrictions.
“For Plaintiffs, this case is not about protecting kids’ First Amendment rights; it is about [turning] the First Amendment into a shield for platforms to wield against any attempt to regulate their business practices -- even when those practices ‘pose [unique] dangers’ to children,” Uthmeier said.
“HB3 is a quintessential consumer-protection regulation” that is “narrowly tailored to protect Florida’s most vulnerable citizens from product designs that are harming their mental health,” which doesn't violate the First Amendment, he added.
Case 4:24-cv-00438 was originally filed in October 2024 by CCIA and NetChoice, which argued the statute conflicts with the federal COPPA law and is unconstitutionally vague, in addition to violating the First Amendment. It was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for Northern Florida in March (see 2503170061).
A second lawsuit was refiled shortly after (see 2503310040), which was more successful as Judge Mark Walker halted enforcement of the law in June on First Amendment grounds (see 2506030057). Uthmeier appealed the decision to the 11th Circuit (see 2506040047).