Florida wins key ruling allowing it to enforce a law that targets social media use by kids

On October 15, 2026, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous 3-0 decision overturning a lower court injunction and allowing Florida to enforce a 2024 law banning social media accounts for children under 14 and requiring parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds. The appellate panel concluded that the measure, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis, targets platforms with addictive features and algorithms linked to heavy use by children and likely survives First Amendment scrutiny because it does not burden substantially more speech than necessary to advance the important interest in protecting minors from social media addiction. Industry groups including NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association had argued the law violated free speech rights.

Blanket age-based access restrictions remain a blunt instrument, excluding compliant young users from online communication while doing nothing to intercept the harms that reach those with parental consent or migrated to less moderated platforms. Anti-grooming and anti-sextortion detection, the capabilities for which Guardii is known as a world-leading AI safety provider and Meta Business Partner, operate at the point of contact rather than at the platform gate. By detecting coercion and escalation within direct-message conversations across Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, Roblox and other channels, targeted pattern detection addresses the underlying harm without prohibiting access or imposing universal age verification on all users including adults.