- A federal judge granted a permanent injunction against Louisiana’s Law 456
- The law would have required social media to verify the age of all users
- NetChoice claimed the law created “massive privacy risks”
The U.S. District Court has permanently blocked Louisiana’s controversial social media age verification law, declaring it unconstitutional just days before it was supposed to be enforced.
In a ruling handed down this week, Judge John W. deGravelles ruled in favor of NetChoice, a tech trade association representing giants like Meta, X (formerly Twitter) and Google, arguing that the Secure Online Child Interaction and Age Limitation Act (Act 456) violated the First Amendment.
The law, passed in 2023, would have required social media platforms with more than five million users to verify the age of each account holder and obtain parental consent for minors under 16. While state officials argued that the measure was necessary to protect children from online harm, the court found the legislation to be “grossly underinclusive” and “overwhelmingly over-enfranchising adults” and that freedom of expression is largely respected.
The ruling is a significant victory for privacy advocates, who have long warned that mandatory ID checks create security vulnerabilities, and comes just days after NetChoice won a similar victory in Arkansas.
In an era where data breaches are common, the requirement to upload government-issued identification to access legal content has driven many security-conscious users to seek out the best VPN services to better secure their digital footprint. That said, a VPN alone cannot bypass account-level ID enforcement if tied to residency.
“ID check outside the library”
Judge deGravelles did not mince words in his 94-page opinion. He criticized the state’s approach, stating that while the government has an interest in protecting children, it does not have a “free-floating power to limit the ideas that children can be exposed to.”
Drawing a strong analogy, the court agreed with NetChoice’s argument that the First Amendment “prohibits the government from issuing ID checks outside the library door,” and ruled that the same principle applies to social media.
The judge also noted that the law was unconstitutionally vague in its definition of what constitutes a “social media platform,” leaving companies to guess whether they were liable. By forcing all users to give up anonymity to access protected speech, the law would have chilled expression and created significant privacy risks for Louisiana residents.
A growing legal trend
This decision is not an isolated event. It follows a clear pattern of federal courts striking down similar age-verification mandates at the state level.
Just last week, we reported on how a federal judge blocked Arkansas’ social media security law, citing nearly identical First Amendment concerns. Like the Louisiana case, the Arkansas ruling emphasized that the state cannot broadly restrict access to information in the name of security without proving that less restrictive alternatives, such as device-level parental controls, are ineffective.
Paul Taske, co-director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, celebrated the Louisiana ruling in a statement. “Today, the First Amendment prevailed in Louisiana,” Taske said. “The government lacks the authority to restrict access to legal speech it doesn’t like.”
What comes next?
While the permanent injunction prevents the law from taking effect, the legal battle may not be entirely over. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill expressed disappointment with the ruling and indicated plans to appeal.
“It is unfortunate that the Court chose to protect large corporations that facilitate the exploitation of children over the legislative policy of requiring simple age verification mechanisms,” Murrill said in a statement.
But with legal precedents on the rise in Ohio, Arkansas, California and now Louisiana, the road ahead for state-mandated age verification looks increasingly difficult. For now, social media platforms operating in Louisiana will not be required to implement ID checks, and users can continue to access those services without providing government documentation.
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