Federal Judge Strikes Down Arkansas Social Media Verification Law

The judge has ruled that the law is unconstitutional.

An illustration shows social media apps displayed on an iPad on Feb. 26, 2024. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

A federal judge has struck down an Arkansas law that required social media platforms to verify the ages of Arkansas residents using the platforms.

The state’s Social Media Safety Act unconstitutionally burdens both minors and their parents by requiring documentation of parental consent for minors to access the websites, U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks said in the March 31 ruling.

“Arkansas’s imposition of an age-verification requirement for account creation is maximally burdensome,” Brooks wrote. “It erects barriers to accessing entire social media platforms rather than placing those barriers around the content or functions that raise concern. It not only hinders adults’ ability to speak and receive protected speech online, it excludes minors whose parents do not consent (or cannot prove their consent) from ’the vast democratic forums of the Internet.'”

States can implement laws regulating speech of conduct but must show they’re narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling state interest.

While unrestrained access to social media does harm minors, the Arkansas law “is not narrowly tailored to address the harms that the State has a compelling interest in preventing,” the judge said in his ruling.

The law had been set to take effect in September 2023 but has been blocked since August 2023 under a preliminary injunction issued by Brooks. The law was set to apply to social media platforms that generate at least $100 million annually, so some platforms such as Truth Social would not have been affected.

The new ruling is summary judgement in favor of NetChoice, a trade group that represents the technology industry. Members include Meta, Facebook’s parent company.

NetChoice had argued that the law unconstitutionally burdened the First Amendment activity of minors, adults, and the social media firms.

“The court confirms what we have been arguing from the start: laws restricting access to protected speech violate the First Amendment,” Chris Marchese, director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, said in a statement.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin had said the law should not be struck down.

“I respect the court’s decision, and we are evaluating our options,” Griffin said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.

A number of other courts have in recent months ruled in favor of NetChoice’s challenges to state laws, including an appeals court siding with the group against a California law that bars social media companies from offering addictive feeds to minors unless the children show they’ve received parental consent.

A federal judge in the fall of 2024 blocked a Utah law that would have required companies from verifying the ages of users, finding that officials had not shown the restrictions were narrowly tailored.