Judge blocks Florida's social media ban for kids while lawsuit continues [View all]

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker wrote Tuesday that the law is “likely unconstitutional.”

A federal judge has barred state officials from enforcing a Florida law that would ban social media accounts for young children while a legal challenge against the law plays out. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued the order Tuesday, blocking portions of the law from taking effect.

The measure was one of the most restrictive bans in the U.S. on social media use by children when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law in 2024. The law would ban social media accounts for children under 14 and require parental permission for their use by 14- and 15-year-olds.

In his order granting the preliminary injunction sought by the groups Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice, Walker wrote that the law is “likely unconstitutional,” but acknowledged that parents and lawmakers have “sincere concerns” about social media’s effects on kids.

Walker wrote that the prohibition on social media platforms from allowing certain age groups to create accounts “directly burdens those youths’ rights to engage in and access speech.”

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2025/06/03/social-media-ban-kids-teens-desantis-james-uthmeier/

Pffft. Republicans care not one whit about the Constitution -- just witness their slavish obedience to the convicted criminal in the White House, who is determined to remake America into an image of himself and force all its citizens to bend the knee.