NetChoice Sues to Block Enforcement of Ark. Social Media Age Verification Law

Arkansas’ SB-396, the state’s social media age verification statute that Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed into law April 12, “is the latest attempt in a long line of government efforts to restrict new forms of expression based on concerns that they harm minors,” alleged NetChoice in a complaint Thursday (docket 5:23-cv-05105) in U.S. District Court for Western Arkansas in Fayetteville. The lawsuit asks the court to declare the statute unconstitutional and enjoin Attorney General Tim Griffin (R) from enforcing it.

Government efforts to restrict minors from accessing books, movies, television, rock music, video games and the internet, including by requiring parental consent to do so, “have reliably and repeatedly been struck down, especially when (as is often the case) they impede the First Amendment rights of adults too,” said the complaint. SB-396 “should meet the same fate,” it said. Griffin's office didn't immediately comment.