ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia on Thursday became the eighth state to see it Laws that require parental consent To use social media challenged by children in court.
NetChoice, Technology Industry and Trade Group, Sued in federal court Atlanta will overturn a law that is expected to take effect on July 1st.
Similar laws have been overturned by federal judges Arkansaud and Ohio Temporarily blocked Yuta. The lawsuit is pending against law in Florida, Louisiana. Mississippi and Tennessee.
The fight is competing for a growing movement that social media use is harmful to children and teens against constitutional protections for free speech. The laws of Georgia and other states require parental consent, but Australia, a country with no constitutional freedom of speech protection, has it. Prohibited Social Media Completely for children under the age of 16.
I also have a part of the US Congress. Proposed parental consent For minors.
“Georgia SB 351 will unconstitutionally block access to protected online speeches and force Georgians to abandon personal information just for the purposes of using everyday digital services,” Paul Tasuke, the litigation’s associate director of the litigation, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “It’s unconstitutional. As several other states are now being told by the courts. We are fighting to keep online communications safe and free in Peach.”
The lawsuit asks U.S. District Judge Amy Torttenberg to declare the law unconstitutional because it violates the 14th amendment to free speech and the right to amend the legitimate clause.
Georgia officials said they would defend the measure.
“It’s unfortunate that the industry would rather file a lawsuit than partnering with us to protect children from online predators,” Georgia Attorney General said. Chris Kerrsaid in a statement, a Republican running for governor in 2026.
“We will not stop working to give parents in Georgia the tools they need to keep their children safe online,” Republican Sen. Jason Anabitalte, sponsor of the bill, in a statement.
NetChoice spokesman Krista Chavez said the group has not challenged another section of Georgia’s law that requires age verification for users of online porn sites. Many states I created a law aimed at pornography Texas law challenge Pending in the US Supreme Court.
Georgia law says social media services must use “commercially reasonable efforts” to verify someone’s age by July 1st.
The service should treat people who cannot be verified as minors. Parents of children under the age of 16 must agree to the children participating in the service. Social media companies are limited to how they customize ads for children under the age of 16 and the amount of information they have about them. The lawsuit on Thursday alleges that it is illegal.
To comply with federal regulations, social media companies have already banned children under the age of 13 from signing up for the platform. “Parents have many existing tools to choose from to regulate whether and how minor children use the internet,” the lawsuit states.
However, it has been shown that children can easily avoid the ban. to 95% of teenagers Reports 13-17 years olds using social media platforms, more than a third said they use it “almost constantly.”
Source link
