Tallahassee, Fla. — A federal appeals panel on Wednesday cleared the way for Florida to enforce its youth social-media restrictions after finding the statute likely satisfies intermediate First Amendment review.
House Bill 3, signed in 2024 by Gov. Ron DeSantis, bars children under 14 from opening their own accounts and requires parental permission for 15- and 16-year-olds. Platforms hit by the rules are those where at least 10 percent of daily users under 16 spend two hours or more and that rely on addictive features such as endless scroll and interactive metrics.
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker had blocked enforcement last June, calling the measure likely unconstitutional after challenges from NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit reversed that injunction. The unanimous three-judge opinion describes the law as content-neutral because it targets functional features rather than topics or messages, and it says the limits reach account creation more than raw browsing.
Judges wrote that the statute does not burden substantially more speech than needed to advance the state interest in curbing social-media addiction among minors, in part because it calibrates by age and covers only platforms judged to drive heavy underage use.
NetChoice Litigation Center director Paul Taske released a statement calling the decision disappointing and saying the group is weighing next steps. The statement argued the ruling could force age checks and parental-status verification across users.
Lawmakers cleared the bill with wide bipartisan margins — the Senate tally was 30 to 5 and the House finished 109 to 4 — with then-House Speaker Paul Renner among its lead champions. The case now returns to the district court for further proceedings while the injunction is lifted.
Section: More Tallahassee FL politics news
