A federal judge on Monday blocked Ohio from implementing a new law that would require social media companies, including Meta Platform’s Instagram and ByteDance’s TikTok, to get parental consent before allowing children under the age of 16 to use their platforms.
US District Chief Judge Algenon Marbley in Columbia agreed with tech industry trade group NetChoice that the law violated minors’ right to free speech under the Constitution’s First Amendment.
It marks the latest court decision to block a state law designed to protect young people online as federal and state lawmakers seek ways to address growing concerns about the dangers social media poses to children’s mental health.
Ohio’s Republican attorney general, Dave Yost, argued that the state’s Social Media Parental Notification Act, passed by the legislature in July, is a legal measure aimed at protecting minors from damage to their mental health and sexual predators.
But Marbley agreed with NetChoice, whose members include TikTok, Elon Musk’s X, Alphabet’s YouTube, and Facebook and Instagram Meta, that the law is “not narrowly tailored for that purpose.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified at a Senate hearing last month. AFP via Getty Images Industry trade group Tech NetChoice argued that the law violates minors’ right to free speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution. AP
“Depriving children under the age of sixteen of accessing all content on websites claimed to be protected by the Act, without affirmative parental consent, is a very blunt instrument for reducing the harm of social media to children,” he wrote.
Monday’s decision puts the Ohio law on hold indefinitely while litigation continues after a judge last month issued an order temporarily preventing it from taking effect on Jan. 15 as scheduled.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, called the results disappointing. He cited “encouraging evidence that social media has a negative impact on the mental health of minors, including an increase in depression and suicidal behavior.”
The ruling marks the latest court decision to block a state law designed to protect young people online as lawmakers look for ways to address growing concerns about the dangers social media poses to children’s mental health. NurPhoto via Getty Images
“Since the federal courts have interpreted federal constitutional law as preventing the state of Ohio from protecting Ohio’s children, Congress needs to act to protect our nation’s children,” he said in a statement.
NetChoice last year won a court ruling that struck down similar social media parental consent laws in Arkansas and children’s digital privacy laws in California.
It’s a challenging restriction adopted in Utah as well.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
