The Western District Court of Arkansas, Fayetteville Division, granted a preliminary injunction, in its decision on August 31, 2023, in Case No. 5:23-CV-05105, NetChoice LLC v. Tim Griffin, in his official capacity as Attorney General of Arkansas, against the Social Media Safety Act from coming into effect on September 1, 2023.

This case involved a constitutional challenge to the Social Media Safety Act, which requires social media companies to verify the age of all account holders who reside in Arkansas and to not permit a minor to be an account holder on the social media company's platform unless the minor has the express consent of a parent or legal guardian.

Background to the Decision

In particular, the District Court noted that NetChoice LLC claimed that:

• the Social Media Safety Act violated the First Amendment Rights of adults and minors;
• the age-verification requirements in the Social Media Safety Act did not provide a constitutional way to address the dangers to minors online; and
• the Social Media Safety Act did not adequately define which social media companies or platforms would fall or be exempt from the purview of the Act.

Findings of the District Court

The District Court held that the Social Media Safety Act would likely unduly burden an adult's and a minor's access to constitutionally protected speech, under the First Amendment Right. In particular, the District Court noted that the enforcement of the Social Media Safety Act would deter many adults from creating an account on social media platforms, who otherwise would be interested, due to the age verification requirements. The District Court further added that 'the governmental interest in protecting children does not justify an unnecessarily broad suppression of speech addressed to adults.'

Furthermore, the District Court noted that age-gating social media platforms for adults and minors does not appear to be an effective approach to address the harms of social media when in reality, it is the content on particular platforms that is causing the harm.

The District Court concluded that the Social Media Safety Act was not narrowly tailored to target content harmful to minors and provided various exclusions to certain companies that would equally, in the Court's opinion, have shown harmful content to minors.

Outcomes

In light of the above, the District Court preliminarily enjoined the Social Media Safety Act for coming into force on September 1, 2023, pending the final disposition of the issues on the merits.

You can read the decision here.