Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On April 16, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio Eastern Division issued a ruling permanently enjoining the Ohio Attorney General from enforcing the Parental Notification by Social Media Operators Act, Ohio Rev. Code § 1349.09(B)(1) (the “Act”). The decision follows a preliminary injunction issued in February 2024 by the same court.

The Act was signed into law in July 2023, and was set to take effect on January 15, 2024. The Act would have required social media platforms to verify whether users are at least 16 years old and obtain parental consent before allowing children under 16 to create an account on their platforms. The court held that the Act implicated the First Amendment because it restricted children’s ability to engage in and access speech, and that the Act’s application to certain websites but not others amounted to a content-based restriction because it favored certain forms of engagement with speech over others. In its ruling, the court stated that the Act “resides at the intersection of two unquestionable rights: the rights of children to ‘a significant measure of’ freedom of speech and expression under the First Amendment, and the rights of parents to direct the upbringing of their children free from unnecessary governmental intrusion.” The court held that the government did not satisfy the satisfy the First Amendment’s strict scrutiny standard, which is applied to content-based restrictions. “Generally, First Amendment protections ‘are no less applicable when government seeks to control the flow of information to minors,’” the court said.

The ruling is the latest in a string of lawsuits brought by NetChoice, a tech industry trade association, against similar state laws. It also represents the second permanent injunction NetChoice has secured, following a recent permanent injunction blocking a similar law in Arkansas.