Federal judge rules Arkansas social media age-verification law unconstitutional

Days after a federal judge blocked a social media age-verification law in Arkansas, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders introduced legislation amending the law “currently enjoined in court.”

Sanders signed the Social Media Safety Act, also known as Act 689, into law in 2023, according to a media release. It required parental consent before minors could create new social media accounts. 

U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks of the Western District of Arkansas’ Monday judgment, obtained by FOX Business, declared it unconstitutional because, if implemented, it “would violate the First Amendment rights of Arkansans because it is a facially content-based restriction on speech that is not narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest.” 

Judge Brooks also said it “would also violate the due process rights of Plaintiffs’ members because it is unconstitutionally vague in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.” The plaintiffs are listed as NetChoice, a trade association that represents major online platforms like Google, Meta, Pinterest, Reddit, X and YouTube, according to its website.    

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“This ruling protects Americans from having to hand over their IDs or biometric data just to access constitutionally protected speech online,” NetChoice’s litigation director, Chris Marchese, said in a statement to the Arkansas Advocate. “It reaffirms that parents — not politicians or bureaucrats — should decide what’s appropriate for their children.”

Sanders’ two pieces of legislation announced Wednesday, Senate Bill 611 and Senate Bill 612, according to the Arkansas Advocate, “establishes a private right of action for parents whose child commits suicide or attempts suicide because of his or her exposure to toxic material on social media, allowing them to sue abusive Big Tech companies in state court,” according to a media release.

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In addition, the legislation “clarifies the definition of ‘social media’ to expand protections to additional platforms, lowers the age of minor users to 16, prohibits social media algorithms from targeting minors, and adds a penalty for companies that do not comply. These new regulations will only apply to new account holders.

“Arkansas has led the nation on commonsense, conservative reforms to protect kids online and these additional protections continue that effort,” Sanders said in a statement. “Moms and dads whose kids have fallen victim to Big Tech deserve the right to take action against these abusive companies – and Arkansas law should protect kids so they aren’t subjected to toxic material in the first place.”