WUSF | By Gray Rohrer | News Service of Florida
Florida’s law banning minors under 14 from getting their own social media accounts is likely constitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, throwing out a lower court’s preliminary injunction against the law.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals had previously stayed the lower court’s ruling blocking the law, pending the appeal by the state of Florida. In its ruling, the appellate court held the law to be within constitutional bounds.
“Yes, (the law) implicates the First Amendment and thus triggers constitutional scrutiny,” the opinion of the unanimous three-judge panel states. “But it likely does so in a content-neutral manner, and it likely survives intermediate scrutiny because it doesn’t burden substantially more speech than necessary to advance the important interest in protecting minors from social-media addiction.”
This story was originally produced by WLRN, South Florida’s only public radio station at 91.3 FM, as part of a content sharing partnership with MIA Media Group. Read more at WLRN.org
