A divided panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that Ohio’s law requiring parental consent for children under 16 to use social media apps must be reinstated.
The decision is a blow to NetChoice, which has already won court victories against the same digital identity laws in other states, including Arkansas, Louisiana and Georgia. The trade group representing TikTok, Snapchat, Meta and other major tech companies said Ohio’s decision went against “clear national consensus” and intended to keep fighting.
“Unconstitutional laws protect no one, and we remain committed to ensuring Ohioans’ First Amendment rights are protected,” said Paul Taske, director of the NetChoice Litigation Center.
Network selection File a lawsuit against Ohio law 2024, arguing that it is overbroad, vague, and constitutes an unconstitutional impediment to free speech.
A panel from the Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit disagreed. In a 2-1 ruling, the court found that the law was not unconstitutional and sent it back to the lower courts for review. Obstruct law enforcementSoared.
“The bottom line is that the Act imposes a requirement of parental consent,” Justice Eric Clay wrote in the lead opinion. “This requirement constitutes a marginal burden that targets exactly what Ohio has identified as a multifaceted problem: children’s unsupervised consent to the terms and conditions of platforms that exploit and harm them.”
Justice Alice Batchelder agreed, writing: “A statute is not ambiguous because of a broad avoidance.”
The Ohio law is called the Social Media Parental Notification Act and is part of $86.1 billion state budget bill Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed it into law in July 2023.
The government is pushing for this measure to protect children’s mental health. Gov. Jon Husted, now a U.S. senator, said at the time that social media was “intentionally addictive” and harmful to children.
The law requires companies to obtain parental permission when using social media and gaming apps and provides privacy guidelines so families know what content will be censored or moderated on their children’s profiles.
Ohio Republican Attorney General Andy Wilson called Thursday’s ruling “a victory for Ohio families.”
“The court agrees that parents — not social media companies — should have a say in what their children see online,” he said in a statement. “We have an obligation to keep our children safe, and today, the most dangerous place for our children is the internet. This decision gives parents the tools to engage and monitor.”
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