U.S. appeals court lets Ohio require parental consent for under-16 social media accounts

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld Ohio’s Social Media Parental Notification Act, allowing the state to require mandatory age verification and parental consent for users under 16 on platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. The law took effect in January 2024 but had been halted by a federal district court. The panel said the measure does not violate the First Amendment and is narrowly tailored to protect children. Meta and Google, among the operators explicitly implicated, face substantial compliance burdens and potential pressure on user activity.