An Arkansas federal judge blocked a law that forced social media applications to verify users’ ages and demanded consent from parents to create an account on these platforms.
The temporary block, imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Brooks, comes after the judge expressed concerns regarding the efficiency and constitutionality of the legislation. He stated:
“(The law) is not targeted to address the harms it has identified, and further research is necessary before the State may begin to construct a regulation that is narrowly tailored to address the harms that minors face due to prolonged use of certain social media.”
Similarly, the group NetChoice (comprised of some social media networks) sued to stop the new regulation from coming into effect. The trade group argued that the legislation was unconstitutional and caused “onerous obligations” on platforms. After the block was revealed, the director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, stated:
“We’re pleased the court sided with the First Amendment and stopped Arkansas’ unconstitutional law from censoring free speech online and undermining the privacy of Arkansans, their families and their businesses as our case proceeds.”
This law was set to come into effect on Friday and it attempted to protect the mental health of younger users. About this, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin (R) affirmed he felt disappointed that he would continue to fight for further regulations that limit the power of these platforms on children and adolescents:
“I will continue to vigorously defend the law and protect our children, an important interest recognized in the federal judge’s order today.”