Federal Judge Keeps Alive Challenge of Fla. Social Media Kids Ban
A federal judge Tuesday declined to dismiss a case over the constitutionality of a Florida law that would ban kids from social media (case 4:24-cv-00438).
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U.S. District Court for Northern Florida Judge Mark Walker said that tech industry plaintiffs NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) "have the better of the argument as to each ground for dismissal that Defendant asserts." Further, he said that the court already addressed many of the arguments by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R).
Walker added that the court "recognizes that it may need to revisit the issues Defendant raises at later stages in this case," which it will do and "apply the appropriate burdens at that time."
CCIA and NetChoice brought the lawsuit against HB-3 in October 2024, which prohibits kids 13 and younger from creating social media accounts and requires parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to create accounts (see 2502180042).
Walker halted enforcement of the law in June (see 2506030057), which Uthmeier appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (docket 25-11881) (see 2506040047). The trade associations say the law violates the First Amendment (see 2509120040) but Uthmeier disagrees (see 2510060055).
In a release Tuesday, CCIA vice president Stephanie Joyce said the law "deserves exacting review on several legal grounds."
"The Court’s ruling today ensures it gets that review under not only the First Amendment but also for the ways it undercuts federal privacy law," said Joyce, adding that the trade association "will keep fighting this unconstitutional, badly conceived statute.”