Judge blocks Arkansas legislation requiring parental OK for minors to create social media accounts

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A federal choose on Thursday briefly blocked Arkansas from imposing a brand new legislation that might have required parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts, stopping the state from turning into the primary to impose such a restriction.

U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks granted a preliminary injunction that NetChoice – a tech business commerce group whose members embrace TikTok, Facebook father or mother Meta, and X, previously often called Twitter – had requested in opposition to the legislation. The measure, which Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into legislation in April, was set to take impact Sept. 1.

Arkansas’ legislation is much like a first-in-the-nation restriction signed into legislation earlier this yr in Utah. That legislation shouldn’t be set to take impact till March 2024. NetChoice final yr filed a lawsuit difficult a California legislation requiring tech corporations to place children’ security first by barring them from profiling kids or utilizing private data in ways in which may hurt kids bodily or mentally.

Similar legal guidelines putting restrictions on minors’ use of social media have been enacted in Texas and Louisiana, which additionally aren’t scheduled to take impact till subsequent yr. Top Republicans in Georgia have mentioned they’ll push for a parental consent measure within the Legislature subsequent yr, and a few members of Congress have proposed comparable laws.

NetChoice argued the requirement violated the constitutional rights of customers and arbitrarily singled out forms of speech that might be restricted.

Arkansas’ restrictions would have solely utilized to social media platforms that generate greater than $100 million in annual income. It additionally wouldn’t apply to sure platforms, together with LinkedIn, Google and YouTube.

Social media corporations have confronted rising scrutiny over their platforms’ impact on teen psychological well being, one of many issues Sanders cited as she pushed for the laws.

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has warned that there’s not sufficient proof to point out that social media is secure for kids and youths and known as on tech corporations to take “immediate action to protect kids now.” Meta introduced in June it was including some new parental supervision instruments and privateness options to its platforms.