FLORIDA, 15th October, 2026 (WAM) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday allowed Florida to enforce a state law barring children under 14 from accessing social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok or Snapchat, rejecting tech industry groups’ claims that the law violates the US Constitution’s free speech protections, according to Reuters.
In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel on the Atlanta-based 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a lower court’s preliminary injunction blocking the law, known as H.B. 3. The court said the law does not regulate the content hosted by social media sites and therefore doesn’t run afoul of the First Amendment.
The law bars social media platforms that have so-called addictive features, which include things like video autoplay and infinite scroll, from allowing children under the age of 14 to create accounts.
Tech industry groups NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which count Meta Platforms, TikTok and Snap as members, had sued in 2024 to block the law.
Florida was among the first of several states to pass a law regulating social media use for children amid a broader reckoning over the apps’ role in young people’s mental health.
Source: Emirates News Agency