Florida's 2024 law limiting social media accounts for young teenagers is likely constitutional, a federal appeals court panel ruled Wednesday, reversing and vacating a preliminary injunction that a judge issued against it last year.
The law, known as HB 3, bars children under 14 from opening accounts on certain platforms and requires a parent's consent for 14- and 15-year-olds. It applies to platforms that use what the law treats as addictive features, such as push notifications, infinite scrolling and autoplay, according to the Florida Phoenix's report on the ruling.
What the court said
The three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was unanimous.
In the main opinion, joined by Judges Robert J. Luck and Gerald Bard Tjoflat, Judge Kevin C. Newsom wrote that the law does implicate the First Amendment but likely does so in a content-neutral way, and that it likely survives intermediate scrutiny because it does not burden substantially more speech than needed to protect minors from social media addiction.
Newsom also noted that the law covers only teens' ability to create their own accounts, not their access to social media, and works as a conditional limit on platforms' use of addictive features and algorithms.
The case now returns to federal court in Tallahassee, where the challenge continues.
Enforcement
The appeals court had already paused the injunction last November, and the Computer & Communications Industry Association says HB 3 has been enforced since then. Wednesday's decision is the court's ruling on whether the injunction itself was proper.
