Several consumer advocates criticized an Ohio law requiring websites targeting children younger than 18 to obtain parental consent before engaging in contracts with minors. In amicus briefs Friday, the groups alleged that its age-verification requirement poses privacy risks and the law violates the First Amendment. They asked the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to join the district court in blocking the Ohio Social Media Parental Notification Act.
NetChoice Lawsuits
NetChoice lawsuits involve a series of high-profile legal challenges brought by the tech industry trade group NetChoice against state laws regulating online content moderation and user data practices. The group has sued states including Texas and Florida, arguing that their social media laws violate the First Amendment and conflict with federal protections for online platforms. These cases, now before federal appeals courts and potentially the U.S. Supreme Court, could set sweeping precedents for how states can govern digital platforms’ handling of speech, privacy, and user data.
More than 30 state attorneys general on Friday filed a brief with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals supporting Tennessee’s age-verification law.
A Mississippi law that requires parental consent for those younger than 18 to create accounts with certain digital service providers poses significant privacy concerns and violates the First Amendment, according to a horde of amicus briefs filed Thursday. The briefs asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to side with NetChoice and strike down the Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act.
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).
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.
The recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court not to block Mississippi’s social-media law from taking effect (see 2508140048) means that a similar Tennessee law should not be blocked, either, argued Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti (R) on Friday.
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.
A Georgia law that would require age verification and parental consent for minors to create social media accounts is not content-based nor does it violate the First Amendment, said a bipartisan coalition of 31 states in an amicus brief Wednesday at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should grant a rehearing en banc in a lawsuit seeking to block a California law that makes it illegal for platforms to provide addictive feeds to minors, NetChoice said in a Tuesday filing (see 2509090049).
A federal appeals court should affirm a lower court’s decision and block Florida’s social media ban on children because it violates the First Amendment, the American Civil Liberties Union and consumer groups said in a filing Friday, siding with the tech industry (see 2509120040). The groups also highlighted privacy concerns related to age verification (docket 25-11881).