A federal court today ruled that Florida cannot enforce a law that requires that social media platforms block children to use their platforms. The Statten Act “is probably unconstitutional”, the American judge Mark Walker of the Northern district of Florida ruled, while the request of the technical industry to submit a provisional order.
The Law in Florida “forbids some social media platforms to be younger than 14 years old to make or maintain an account on their platforms, and forbids in the same way to make or keep young people who are 14 or 15, unless a parent or guardian gives affirmative permission for them,” Walker wrote.
The law is subject to an intermediary control under the first amendment, which means that it “must be closely adjusted to serve a significant government interest”, must “open open alternative channels for communication” and may not “be considerably more speech than to promote the legitimate interests of the government,” the statement said.
Florida claimed that his law was designed to prevent damage to youth and is closely adjusted because it focuses on sites that use specific functions that are considered addictive. But the law applies too widely, Walker found:
Even from the importance of the interest of the state to limit the exposure of young people to websites with 'addictive functions', the limitations of the law are an extraordinary bone instrument to promote it. As only applied to the members of the claimants, the law will probably prohibit all young people under the age of 14 to hold bills on, at least, four websites that offer forums for all kinds of protected speech: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat. It also prohibits 14 and 15-year-olds to keep bills on those four websites without the affirmative permission of a parent, a requirement that the Supreme Court clearly explained that the first amendment was not.
Walker said that the Florida “law applies to a social media site that, under all circumstances, employs one of the five addictive functions, even if, for example, the site only sends pushms when users choose to receive them, or the site is not automatically presented, it is not if one of the jurisdictions are available for holders.”
