A pair of tech industry groups is suing to overturn a new Florida law that is set to restrict teenagers’ access to social media, the latest in a string of similar legal challenges around the country.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice announced their joint lawsuit Monday. It takes aim at what’s known as Florida’s House Bill 3, a first-of-its-kind law that will prohibit anyone younger than 14 years old from most social media platforms and requires parental permission for 14- and 15-year-olds to have an account.
“This social media law infringes on the First Amendment rights of both minors and adults by creating significant barriers to accessing online information that every American, including minors, has a right to see,” Stephanie Joyce, the Computer & Communications Industry Association’s senior vice president and chief of staff, said in a statement.
“Make no mistake, HB 3 is government censorship paired with massive security risks,” said Paul Taske, NetChoice’s associate director of litigation.
The trade groups’ members include Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and Google, which operates YouTube.
The 48-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, seeks to block the law from taking effect and have it ultimately ruled unconstitutional. The law, which also includes a requirement that pornographic websites verify the age of users, is scheduled to go into effect in January.
The bipartisan law was a top priority of Florida House Speaker Paul Renner (R), who after it passed called it the “strongest legislation in the nation to keep children safe online and prevent big tech companies from using addictive features to keep them online for profit.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) vetoed an earlier version of the law that would have banned anyone under 16 from most social media sites. The revised version that he signed created a two-tier system depending on the age of the minor.
Neither DeSantis nor House leadership immediately responded to a Pluribus News request for comment.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice previously teamed to challenge a pair of social media anti-deplatforming laws in Florida and Texas. Those cases reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which then sent the cases back to the lower courts earlier this year. The groups also jointly sued Texas again this summer in a challenge to a 2023 law that seeks to protect kids from harmful content online.
Separately, NetChoice has sued Arkansas, California, Mississippi, Ohio and Utah in response to state laws aimed at restricting teen access to social media or addressing online harms.
NetChoice has won temporary injunctions in each of those cases — illustrating the challenge states face when trying to regulate online platforms. A portion of the Texas law was also put on hold.
Despite the setbacks in court, state lawmakers have been undeterred in their drive to address kids’ online safety amid growing alarm over social media’s effect on teen wellbeing. For instance, California and New York lawmakers this year passed legislation that bars addictive feeds and restricts overnight notifications to teen account holders.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed the nation’s second Age Appropriate Design Code law, requiring higher online privacy and safety standards, despite ongoing legal challenges to the law California previously enacted.
Florida lawmakers sought to avoid some of the legal pitfalls encountered by other states by not implementing a blanket ban on teens’ social media access. Instead, the Florida law targeted platforms that employ addictive design features and algorithms. The law also did not dictate to companies how they should ascertain the users’ ages, an issue that has become the subject of litigation.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice say in their lawsuit that Florida’s novel approach still violates the First Amendment and appears to target the most popular social media sites “that minors especially enjoy using.”
“Burdening protected speech that citizens find especially interesting is especially inconsistent with the First Amendment,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also argues that parents already have access to tools that allow them to restrict their child’s use and that it is not the role of the state to “take matters into its own hands and restrict access itself.”
In passing the law in March, the bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Tyler Sirois (R), said it would put Florida teens on a path “to live healthier, more productive, and happier lives.”