US federal court upholds California social media youth protection law News
Matteo Fantino, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
US federal court upholds California social media youth protection law

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday largely upheld a California law aimed at protecting minors online.

The case, NetChoice, LLC v. Bonta, saw a three-judge panel affirm most of the district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction against a California law that limits the ways that social media companies can interact with children.

The ruling upheld the requirement in the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act (SB 976) that the accounts of minors must default to private mode. The court found this restriction satisfied intermediate scrutiny, a constitutional standard that requires the government to show its content-neutral speech restrictions are substantially related to an important government interest.

The panel also rejected NetChoice’s challenge to personalized feed restrictions, ruling that the association lacked standing because constitutional analysis of algorithmic speech is “fact intensive” and varies “platform to platform.”On the other hand, the court found that restrictions on showing “like counts” and feedback metrics to minors constitute unlawful content-based speech regulation, as California could pursue its youth mental health objectives through “less restrictive” means like voluntary content filters.

Enacted in 2024, SB 976 prohibits social media platforms from showing personalized content feeds and engagement metrics to minors in California unless parents provide explicit consent. NetChoice, an internet trade association, brought a constitutional challenge on behalf of its members, which include major tech companies like Google, Meta, X, Pinterest, and Nextdoor. The organization argued that SB 976 violates the First Amendment by restricting platforms’ ability to communicate freely with users.

The opinion marks the latest development in the evolving landscape of legal protections surrounding social media use by minors. In April, a federal court permanently blocked an Ohio law requiring parental consent for use of social media. In June, a federal court blocked a similar Florida law that requires social media companies to block children 14 years or younger from using their platforms.

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