First Amendment
Ohio restrictions on kids’ use of social media restored by court
The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel vacated a lower court injunction to stop a requirement for parental consent for children under 16 to use social media apps. (Image from Shutterstock)
Ohio’s law requiring parental consent for children under 16 to use social media apps must be restored, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.
In a 2-1 decision Thursday, the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit panel vacated a lower court injunction to stop the parental consent requirement. The majority found that the requirement does not violate the First Amendment rights of children.
Parental consent “constitutes a marginal burden that precisely targets the multifaceted problem that Ohio has identified: Children’s unsupervised assent to terms and conditions for use of platforms that take advantage of and harm them,” Judge Eric Clay wrote for the majority.
The ruling is a defeat for NetChoice, which has won court battles against similar laws in other states, including Arkansas, Louisiana and Georgia. The NetChoice Litigation Center, the trade group representing TikTok, Snapchat, Meta and other major tech companies, said the 6th Circuit ruling went against “clear national consensus” and that it intended to keep fighting, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Netchoice had filed a lawsuit against the law in 2024, arguing that it was overly broad, vague and represented an unconstitutional impediment to free speech. In April 2025, U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley struck down the law, ruling that it was not narrowly tailored to achieve the state’s goal of protecting minors from mental health issues associated with social media.
Courthouse News Service also had coverage of the 6th Circuit ruling.
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