Federal judge blocks Florida from enforcing social media ban for kids while lawsuit continues
Source: AP
Updated 6:26 PM EDT, June 3, 2025
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge has barred state officials from enforcing a Florida law that would ban social media accounts for young children, while a legal challenge against the law plays out. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued the order Tuesday, blocking portions of the law from taking effect.
The measure was one of the most restrictive bans in the U.S. on social media use by children when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law in 2024. The law would ban social media accounts for children under 14 and require parental permission for their use by 14- and 15-year-olds.
In his order granting the preliminary injunction sought by the groups Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice, Walker wrote that the law is “likely unconstitutional,” but acknowledged that parents and lawmakers have “sincere concerns” about social media’s effects on kids. Walker wrote that the prohibition on social media platforms from allowing certain age groups to have accounts “directly burdens those youths’ rights to engage in and access speech.”
Also Tuesday, a federal judge in Atlanta heard arguments from NetChoice seeking to block a 2024 Georgia law scheduled to take effect July 1 that would require age verification for social media accounts and require children younger than 16 to get parental permission for accounts. Like in Florida and other states where laws have been blocked, the internet trade group NetChoice argues that the Georgia law infringes on free speech rights, is vague, and overly burdensome.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/florida-social-media-ban-minors-lawsuit-678e71c6c6183b87435b7f51feb71fbe
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