• by Wendy Davis , August 29, 2025

Minnesota will hold off on enforcing a new social media law against members of the tech group NetChoice until at least next year, according to court papers filed Friday by NetChoice and the state attorney general.

The Prohibiting Social Media Manipulation Act, passed last year, would require social platforms to publicly disclose how their recommendation algorithms evaluate content. The statute also would require social platforms to disclose how they "impose limits on user engagement."

NetChoice, which represents companies including Google, Meta and Snap, sued over the law in July, arguing it's unconstitutional.

The tech organization plans to file by November 21 for an injunction blocking enforcement, Attorney General Keith Ellison's office intends to respond by December 19, and NetChoice will counter that response by January 23, according to a joint stipulation filed Friday with U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Brasel in Minnesota.

The law was supposed to take effect in July, but Ellison's office says it won't attempt to charge any NetChoice members with violating the law until after there's been a ruling on the group's request for an injunction.

The "compelled disclosure requirements violate the First Amendment many times over," NetChoice said in its complaint. The organization argued that social platforms' algorithms, which guide determinations about how to present content, are comparable to editorial decisions made by traditional media, and therefore protected by the First Amendment.

"Minnesota cannot compel disclosure of these protected editorial algorithms any more than it could compel a newspaper to reveal its editorial decision-making process," NetChoice asserted.

The group also said its members algorithms are trade secrets.