CLEVELAND — An Ohio judge is recusing herself from a lawsuit that aims to stop the Social Media Parental Notification Act from going into effect Monday, January 15.
The law requires social media and online gaming companies to develop ways to verify if a user is under the age of 16 and secure parental consent for those potential users to sign up.
Judge Sarah D. Morrison recused herself from the case, which was reassigned to U.S. Southern District of Ohio Chief Judge Algenon Marbley.
NetChoice, a trade group representing TikTok, Snapchat, Meta, and other tech companies, is fighting Ohio’s new law giving parents the choice to give parental consent before kids can use certain websites. They argue the new policy is too broad and violates the first amendment.
“I think they’ve got a good shot,” said Cleveland attorney Tom Zych. “I think this is a very serious lawsuit.”
Zych is not involved with the lawsuit NetChoice LLC v Yost, but he does co-chair his firm’s privacy and cybersecurity practice. He believes Ohio’s new law is a case of easier said than done.
“I understand what the Attorney General, the legislature is looking to do, my concern is in actually implementing this.” Zych explained. “It's another burden without necessarily the proof that at the end of the day we're going to make kids better off.”
The law is intended to protect children’s mental health.
In a statement released Friday, Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted calls the lawsuit “cowardly” and says in part, “these companies are determined to go around parents to expose children to harmful content and addict them to their platforms. These companies know that they are harming our children with addictive algorithms with catastrophic health and mental health outcomes.”
Zych acknowledges there are problems with kids and social media, but questions if the new law is the right solution.
“This is how kids communicate with each other and get information,” Zych said. “Years ago, it was texting. Now these other apps, these other means of communicating, are simply how children live."
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office will enforce the law by asking people to file a complaint if they experience a company not complying. The office will then reach out to the company to resolve the issue. Companies that do not comply could face civil penalties of up to $10,000 a day.