Georgia is the youngest state in which a federal judge has blocked a law Age check required For social media accounts.
As in seven other countries in which such laws were blocked, a federal judge decided on Thursday that the law of Georgia Violations of freedom of speech rights.
The judgment With the US district judge Amy Totenberg, the measure in Georgia, which was adopted in 2024, does not mean in force next week as planned. Instead, Totenberg provided an injunction that blocked the law until there is a complete decision on this topic.
The Georgia’s law would have to request some social media providers to take “commercially adequate” steps to check the age of a user and to require children under the age of 16 to receive the permission of parents for accounts. It was challenged by NetchOiceA trading group that represents online companies.
“The state tries to set up speaking barriers that cannot withstand the strict examination that the constitution demands,” wrote Totenberg. The law limits the rights of minors, cold the right to anonymous language online and limits the ability of people to receive speech of social media platforms.
Georgia will appeal, said a spokesman for the Attorney General Chris Carr on Thursday.
“We will continue to defend Commonsense measures, strengthen the parents and protect our children online,” said spokesman Kara Murray in an explanation.
Parents – and even Some teenagers themselves – are increasingly concerned about it Use the effects of social media About young people. Followers of the law said Explosive use of social media under youthAnd what researchers say is an increase in the associated increase in Depression and fear. Totenberg said that concerns about social media that harm children are legitimate, but the constitutional violation does not predominate.
Totenberg wrote that the members of NetchOice would be irreparably damaged by the law. She rejected arguments from the state that the group should not receive a temporary relief, since it had delayed the submission of her lawsuit by one year and because the state decided 90 days before the law was enforced.
“The free expression does not end where the fear of the government begins,” said Chris Marchese, director of Litigation of Netchoice. “Parents – not politicians – should lead their children’s lives online and offline – and nobody should have to hand over a state ID to speak in digital rooms.”
It is the ninth state in which Netchoice has blocked a law on the use of social media by children. In Arkansa And OhioFederal judges have lifted the law permanently. In addition to Georgia, measures are also put on ice in California. FloridaMississippi, Texas and Utah. Louisiana agreed not to enforce his law during the legal dispute. Only in Tennessee did a federal judge refuse to temporarily block a law and found that NetchOice had not proven that people would be irreparably damaged if the law was not blocked before the process.
Georgia had argued that the law should protect children in a dangerous place and compared it to the ban on bars that serve alcohol instead of restricting their speech.
