Federal Judge Overturns Arkansas Law on Social Media Verification

April 2, 2025 TruthUSA

The judge has determined that the law violates the constitution.

A federal judge has invalidated an Arkansas statute that mandated social media platforms to authenticate the ages of users from Arkansas.

According to U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks, the state’s Social Media Safety Act imposes an unconstitutional burden on both minors and their parents by necessitating documentation of parental consent for minors to access the platforms, as stated in his ruling on March 31.

“The requirement imposed by Arkansas for age verification during account creation is excessively burdensome,” Brooks wrote. “It creates obstacles to accessing entire social media platforms instead of focusing on the content or functions that are concerning. This not only limits adults’ ability to engage in and receive protected speech online, but it also excludes minors whose parents do not consent (or cannot demonstrate their consent) from ’the vast democratic forums of the Internet.’”

While states have the authority to enact laws governing speech or conduct, they must demonstrate that these measures are specifically tailored to serve a compelling interest of the state.

Although unrestricted access to social media can pose risks to minors, the Arkansas legislation “is not suitably tailored to mitigate the harms that the State has a compelling interest in preventing,” the judge noted in his decision.

The law was supposed to take effect in September 2023 but has been suspended since August 2023 due to a preliminary injunction issued by Brooks. The proposed regulation would have applied to social media platforms with annual revenues of at least $100 million, which meant that certain platforms, like Truth Social, would not have been impacted.

The latest ruling is a summary judgment in favor of NetChoice, a trade association representing the technology sector, including members such as Meta, the parent company of Facebook.

NetChoice contended that the law unlawfully burdened the First Amendment rights of minors, adults, and the social media companies.

“The ruling affirms what we have been asserting from the beginning: laws that restrict access to protected speech violate the First Amendment,” stated Chris Marchese, director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, in a statement.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin had expressed that the law should remain in effect.

“I respect the court’s decision, and we are currently considering our next steps,” Griffin conveyed in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.

Several other courts have recently ruled in favor of NetChoice’s objections to state laws, with an appeals court supporting the group against a California statute that prohibits social media companies from providing addictive feeds to minors unless parental consent is established.

A federal judge also blocked a Utah law in the fall of 2024 that aimed to require companies to verify the ages of users, determining that officials failed to demonstrate the restrictions were appropriately tailored.

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