A federal judge blocked Nebraska's new social media law for minors. The state now wants an appeals court to let it take effect. Major platforms and industry groups are watching closely.
Media and publishing professionals tracking regulatory shifts in digital platforms should note Nebraska's latest legal move. The state is seeking immediate enforcement of a law that would require social media platforms to verify user ages and block anyone under 18 from creating accounts without parental consent.
Nebraska Attorney General Michael Hilgers disclosed in court filings that he plans to ask the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to lift a federal judge's block on the Parental Rights in Social Media Act (LB 383). The law, which also mandates that platforms provide parents with tools to monitor their children's messages, was halted last month by U.S. District Court Judge John Gerrard. Gerrard ruled that the age verification and parental consent requirements directly affect protected First Amendment activities and appeared motivated by efforts to restrict minors' access to certain types of speech, including content related to obscenity, drug use, body dysmorphia, and suicide.
The legal challenge was brought by NetChoice, an industry group representing major platforms such as Meta, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube. NetChoice argued that the law's restrictions echo a 2011 Supreme Court decision that struck down a California ban on selling violent video games to minors without parental consent. The Supreme Court at that time affirmed that the government cannot broadly restrict the ideas accessible to children, regardless of the medium.
While Judge Gerrard blocked the age verification and parental consent provisions, he allowed the law's requirement for parental monitoring tools to remain in effect, stating that these measures appeared narrowly tailored to address the harms of unmonitored social media use by minors and did not violate the Constitution at this stage.
