• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, 9 hours ago

The tech industry group NetChoice has asked a federal judge to block a new Georgia law that requires social platforms to verify users' ages, and prohibits platforms from allowing minors under 16 to create accounts, without parental permission.

The Protecting Georgia's Children on Social Media Act, signed last week by Governor Brian Kemp and slated to take effect in July, also prohibits platforms from displaying ads to users under 16 based on their “personal information” other than their ages and locations.

The restrictions apply to social media platforms that allow account holders to create profiles, upload material, view user-generated content, and interact with others. The law exempts a broad array of online companies that often incorporate social functionality -- including news and entertainment sites, e-commerce businesses and interactive gaming platforms.

NetChoice -- which counts Meta, Snap, Google and other large tech companies as members -- argues in a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Atlanta that the age verification mandate, parental consent requirement and restrictions on ads all violate the First Amendment.

The group is seeking a judicial declaration that the law is unconstitutional, and an injunction blocking enforcement.

NetChoice writes in its request to block the law that the ban on using minors' personal information for advertising violates the First Amendment by restricting platforms' “core editorial functions.”

“The First Amendment prohibits the state from dictating how private entities choose which lawful ads to publish -- and what lawfully obtained information they use to make that choice,” NetChoice writes.

The group adds that the advertising restriction is “akin to telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it may not rely on market research to place ads.”

The organization also says the ad provisions could result in a ban on some contextual ads because the statute doesn't define either “personal information” or “advertising.”

“The restrictions are broad and undefined, potentially covering contextual ads -- including ads for things like higher-education opportunities, military service, and test preparation,” NetChoice writes in its complaint. “The Act could go so far as to prohibit user-generated promotional content about activities like babysitting services, music lessons, or sports clinics.”

NetChoice also argues that the age verification requirement would require minors as well as adults to document their ages before engaging in activity like sharing photos on Instagram, petitioning a politician on X or searching for work on Nextdoor.

“The First Amendment does not tolerate this burden to access protected speech,” NetChoice writes in its request for an injunction.

The organization adds that other laws preventing minors from accessing media, without parental consent, have been struck down in court.

For instance, the group writes, the Supreme Court in 2011 invalidated a California law that would have prohibited the sale of violent video games to minors, without parental permission. More recently, a judge in Ohio permanently blocked a law that would have prohibited some social platforms from allowing minors under 16 to create accounts or access content, without parental permission.