A group that includes some of the nation’s largest social media and internet companies has filed a lawsuit challenging a Georgia law that seeks to limit minors’ access to some online services.
Beginning July 1, Senate Bill 351 would require children under 16 to have their parents’ permission to create social media accounts. It would also require the sites to verify their customers’ ages and would limit the kind of advertising that can be shown to children.
On Thursday the industry group NetChoice — which represents Facebook, Google, YouTube, X, Amazon and other companies — filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, seeking to overturn portions of the law. The lawsuit says SB 351 violates the free speech and other rights of children, adults and the companies themselves.
“NetChoice is suing because Georgians deserve meaningful solutions that actually protect families online — not unconstitutional restrictions that create cybersecurity risks, undermine parental authority and infringe (on) free-speech rights,” Paul Taske, NetChoice’s associate director of litigation, said Thursday.
“It’s a shame that the industry would rather file a lawsuit than partner with us to protect children from online predators,” Attorney General Chris Carr, the defendant in the lawsuit, said in a statement Thursday.
When the bill passed last year, advocates said the legislation was needed to protect minors from cyberbullying and to address rising concerns about the adverse effects of social media in teens’ mental health.
The law would impose fines of up to $2,500 on companies that fail to make reasonable efforts to confirm users are 16 or older. And it would require school districts to teach students about the risks of social media and to limit students’ access to online content on school-owned devices.
“I am proud to have prioritized this legislation to help protect our children online and combat the very serious epidemic of cyberbullying which plagues this country,” Lt. Gov. Burt Jones said when the bill passed last year.
In its lawsuit, NetChoice says parents already have numerous tools to limit and monitor their children’s online access, including some offered by social media sites. And it says its members already prohibit minors under the age of 13 from opening accounts on their main services (though some offer services designed for children).
The lawsuit says the Georgia law’s age-verification requirement is illegal because it blocks customers’ access to protected speech online unless they provide sensitive personal information or identification, which some might be unable or unwilling to provide.
It adds the Supreme Court has held that governments cannot require minors to obtain their parents’ consent to access protected speech, the lawsuit says.
The suit challenges the law’s restrictions on disseminating advertising to minors. And it says the law violates free speech and due process provisions of the U.S. Constitution, as well as federal law.
NetChoice has already successfully challenged similar laws in Arkansas and Ohio.
Last year the group also challenged another Georgia law that requires online marketplaces to obtain and verify certain information about high-volume sellers. A federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of that Georgia law, saying it conflicted with federal law. The litigation is still pending.
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