Florida secured a big legal win Wednesday when the court ruled to allow the state to enforce its social media ban for kids.
NEW: The 11th Circuit allowed Florida to enforce its ban on social media accounts for children under 14 and its parental consent requirement for ages 14–15, ruling that the restrictions likely do not violate the First Amendment. https://t.co/78ApN5x6of
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) October 14, 2026
United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that the social media restrictions for children likely don’t violate the First Amendment.
Florida House Bill 3, which banned children under the age of 14 from creating social media accounts, was originally filed in January 2024, and was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis at the end of the legislative session.
NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), major technology trade associations, challenged the restrictions, saying they violated Floridians’ First Amendment rights.
The court disagreed, and ruled to allow the state to enforce the ban.
“HB3 is facially content neutral: It regulates social-media platforms based on their functional capabilities and features, not the content they communicate. The law neither references the substance of the speech on any platform nor draws distinctions based on it,” the court wrote in its opinion.
Because the law isn’t regulating the type of speech, but rather the functional capabilities of the platforms, it does not violate the First Amendment.
“For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that while HB3 restricts First Amendment-protected activity, it likely does so in a content-neutral manner,” the court concluded. “It doesn’t burden substantially more speech than necessary to advance the important interest in protecting minors from social-media addiction.”
Attorney General James Uthmeier, who pushed for the ban, celebrated the legal victory with an X post Thursday.
“Big win for Florida’s kids. The Eleventh Circuit just upheld HB 3 as constitutional, confirming that we can protect minors from the addictive design features of social media,” he wrote in the caption.
Big win for Florida’s kids. The Eleventh Circuit just upheld HB 3 as constitutional, confirming that we can protect minors from the addictive design features of social media. This follows our win on appeal last year that stayed a district court’s order that prevented the law from going into effect.
Thank you to Chief Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey DeSousa for defending this law in court!
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) October 15, 2026
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