{"id":26832,"date":"2026-06-21T10:31:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T10:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/?p=26832"},"modified":"2026-06-21T10:31:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T10:31:37","slug":"us-court-rules-ohio-can-restrict-childrens-use-of-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/?p=26832","title":{"rendered":"US court rules Ohio can restrict children&#8217;s use of social media"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" data-src=\"https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26833 lazyload\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 960px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 960\/640;width:369px;height:auto\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-1.png 960w, https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-1-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-1-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-1-287x190.png 287w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The 6th Circuit reversed a lower-court order that had blocked enforcement since 2024<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The law requires websites likely accessed by under-16s to verify users&#8217; ages<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>NetChoice said it \u200bremains confident the law will ultimately be struck down permanently<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">June 18 (Eastlink Africa) &#8211; Ohio can implement a \u200claw requiring social media companies, including Meta Platforms&#8217;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/companies\/META.O\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">(META.O), opens new tab<\/a>\u00a0Instagram, to obtain parental consent before allowing children under 16 to use their platforms, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A 2-1 panel of the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/fingfx.thomsonreuters.com\/gfx\/legaldocs\/klpyokbbnpg\/netchoice_ohio.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">overturned, opens new tab<\/a>&nbsp;a lower-court ruling that \u200bhad put the law on hold at the request of the tech industry trade group NetChoice. The \u200bpanel found the law did not violate free speech protections under the First Amendment \u2060of the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NetChoice said in a statement that the court&#8217;s decision threatens the online privacy and constitutional rights \u200bof Ohio residents, but the group &#8220;remains fully confident that this unconstitutional law will ultimately be struck down permanently.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ohio Attorney \u200bGeneral Andy Wilson in a statement said the decision &#8220;gives parents the tools to be involved and provide oversight.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ruling comes as governments around the world, including in Australia, move to restrict children&#8217;s access to social media, reflecting growing concern among lawmakers about the platforms&#8217; \u200beffect on young people&#8217;s health and safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">he Ohio case is one of an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/government\/us-appeals-court-weighs-constitutionality-state-laws-limiting-youth-use-social-2026-03-10\/\">array of legal challenges<\/a>&nbsp;that NetChoice \u200bhas been pursuing to prevent states from implementing laws the authorities say are needed to protect children from the mental health dangers \u200cposed \u2060by social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Ohio law, known as the Social Media Parental Notification Act, was passed by the state&#8217;s legislature in 2023 and took effect in January 2024, only to be&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/us-judge-blocks-ohio-law-restricting-childrens-use-social-media-2024-02-12\/\">quickly blocked<\/a>&nbsp;from being enforced by U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The law requires operators of websites that can be reasonably anticipated to be accessed by children under 16 to \u200bverify their age. It \u200bprovides an 11-factor list to \u2060determine whether a website falls within that definition, along with certain exceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NetChoice, whose members include TikTok, Alphabet&#8217;s&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/companies\/GOOGL.O\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">(GOOGL.O), opens new tab<\/a>&nbsp;YouTube, and Facebook and Instagram-owner Meta, had argued the law was \u200bunconstitutionally vague and improperly restricted children&#8217;s access to content protected by the First Amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>June 18 (Eastlink Africa) &#8211; Ohio can implement a \u200claw requiring social media companies, including Meta Platforms&#8217;\u00a0(META.O), opens new tab\u00a0Instagram, to obtain parental consent before allowing children under 16 to use their platforms, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Thursday. A 2-1 panel of the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals&nbsp;overturned, opens new tab&nbsp;a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[158],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech"],"cubewp_post_meta":[],"taxonomies":["Tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26832"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26835,"href":"https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26832\/revisions\/26835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastlinkafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}