Federal judge strikes down Louisiana social media age-check law

(The Center Square) – A federal judge in Baton Rouge has blocked a Louisiana age-verification law for social media, ruling that it violates the First Amendment and is too vague to enforce. In a 94-page opinion, U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles granted trade group NetChoice’s motion for summary judgment and issued a permanent injunction against Act 456, the Secure Online Child Interaction and Age Limitation Act. Attorney General Liz Murrill said she intends to appeal the decision.The 2023 law required social media companies in Louisiana to verify users’ ages, obtain parental consent for minors, limit certain data collection and advertising to minors and restrict some direct messaging between adults and minors.Users would have had to provide sensitive identifying information to prove their age. DeGravelles found the statute is unconstitutionally vague because the scope of the term “social media platform” is unclear, leaving companies to guess whether they are covered.He also held that the law’s age-verification and parental-consent requirements place substantial burdens on access to lawful speech and would “potentially all but kill anonymous speech online,” echoing concerns from other federal courts about similar laws.Citing Supreme Court precedents, DeGravelles wrote that while states may try to protect children from harm, that power “does not include a free-floating power to restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed,” and that cutting off access to social media “is to prevent the user from engaging in the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights.”The ruling is the latest in a string of federal court decisions siding with NetChoice against states’ efforts to regulate minors’ access to social media, following similar outcomes in Ohio and Arkansas. “The assault on children by online predators is an all-hands-on-deck problem. It’s unfortunate that the court chose to protect huge corporations that facilitate child exploitation over the legislative policy to require simple age verification mechanism,” Murrill said in a statement.