COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio's new social media law, the Social Media Parental Notification Act, was slated to go into effect today but is now headed to court. The law would require parental consent for children under the age of 16 to access certain social media sites. Governor Mike Dewine backed the law and was trying to push it into motion.
Other states have also pushed for social media laws to limit kids' access like Arkansas, Utah, and California.
The intention behind the law is to protect minors from inappropriate content, mental health issues, and data privacy concerns while using social media. Parents are asking legislators to enforce social media platforms to create parental consent to use certain websites.
However, the law is being met with a number of challenges.
Groups like Net Choice that represent tech giants like Meta, Google and TikTok filed lawsuits arguing that passing the social media law violates the first and fourteenth amendments because they are "vague and impede free speech."
Meanwhile critics argue that these laws could deprive minors of educational resources, community engagement, and political activism.
3 News spoke to Richik Sarkar, local attorney at Dinsmore and Shohl, on why the law is being put on hold.
"The judges that have analyzed this think that this places too many limits on first amendment rights to access information things of that nature, so NetChoice went in and asked for an injunction with respect to these laws and them going into effect, and each of these judges looked at it and said, 'In granting this injunction, I think they're right, and more likely than not, they're going to win these lawsuits and these things are going to be considered unconstitutional.'" Sarkar said.
So what's next until this is settled in court?
Social media companies are proposing alternative approaches improving existing safety features on platforms and launching campaigns to promote constitutionally appropriate solutions and roll out new safety features.
Meanwhile, the courts will focus on making sure the law doesn't infringe constitutional rights or harm the minors they are trying to protect.
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