On January 22, 2024, the District Court for the Southern District of Ohio Eastern Division granted a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in Case No. 2:24-cv-00047, NetChoice LLC v. Dave Yost, Ohio Attorney General, against House Bill 33, the Social Media Parental Notification Act (the Act), coming into effect on January 15, 2024.

In particular, the Act was signed into law on July 5, 2023, by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, requiring that companies obtain verifiable parental consent before permitting a child under the age of 16 and who is not emancipated to use their platforms.

What are the findings of the District Court?

The District Court stated that the Act violates NetChoice's member organizations' First and Fourteenth Amendment Rights because of the vague scope of the Act and that organizations were unsure as to whether they must comply with the Act. Additionally, the District Court highlighted that the Act imposes impermissible speaker and content-based restrictions on First Amendment-protected speech and that the Act imposes impermissibly overinclusive and underinclusive bans on minors' access to First Amendment-protected speech.

Notably, the District Court found the scope of the Act 'troublingly vague,' namely the Act application to operators that 'target children' or are 'reasonably anticipated to be accessed by children.'

You can read the decision here.