Report from MediaPost
In Brief – A coalition of 42 State Attorneys General are backing Colorado’s appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to allow the state to enforce its new law requiring social media platforms to display cigarette-style health warnings to young users. The AG’s amicus brief argues that social media can be highly addictive and is linked to harms such as depression and suicidal thoughts among minors. Colorado’s HB24-1136 requires that platforms either provide educational information about social media’s effects on adolescent brain development and mental health or issue pop-up warnings every 30 minutes after minors exceed one hour of daily use or use platforms late at night. A federal judge blocked enforcement of the law last November, ruling that NetChoice, a digital platform trade group, was likely to prevail in its legal challenge arguing that the law violates the First Amendment by forcing companies to promote a disputed view about social media harms.
Context – Social media critics in the US have been engaged in a massive campaign of civil litigation and state legislation to force the platforms to change how they operate. Because Sec. 230 protects online platforms from liability for content posted by users and platform decisions whether to restrict objectionable content, critics have focused on allegations that platforms employ so-called addictive features that harm younger users. States keep passing laws regulating platform features and operations. For example, California, New York and Minnesota have passed warning label laws like Colorado’s. Most of the state laws have been blocked by federal judges. However, last year, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, and then the 11th Circuit, overruled district judges and allowed Mississippi and Florida social media laws to go into effect. An eventual High Court clash is likely. A wave of civil lawsuits is proving more successful in court, with a recent plaintiff wins in California state court and federal court in New Mexico, and the subsequent agreement by the largest social media platforms to settle the federal lawsuit of a rural Kentucky school district rather than face off in federal court in California. Thousands more are in the queue.