Children and youth

Court Revives Ohio's Social Media Parental Consent Law

Should parents control kids' social media access or do age verification laws threaten constitutional freedoms?

Published 2 hours ago

Court Revives Ohio's Social Media Parental Consent Law

Story

Above: A 14-year-old boy holds an iPhone screen displaying various social media and messaging apps on Feb. 23, 2026, in Bath, England. Image credit: Anna Barclay/Getty Images

The Spin

Narrative A

Social media platforms are algorithmic addiction machines designed to hijack kids' attention and harvest their data, and no court ruling changes that reality. Leaving children with frictionless access to these systems isn't freedom — it's negligence dressed up as principle. Society restricts minors from alcohol, cigarettes and driving, so demanding parental consent before billion-dollar corporations get access to children is basic, reasonable protection.

ObiWanShinobi on X Technology and Marketing Law Blog

Narrative B

Ohio's Social Media Parental Notification Act was ruled unconstitutional because it violated First Amendment rights and actually stripped parents of authority rather than protecting it. Forcing tech firms to verify ages and identities hands government unprecedented control over who gets online and what they can see — a licensing regime that mirrors authoritarian internet censorship in principle. Protecting kids online and protecting constitutional rights aren't mutually exclusive, and a bad law achieves neither.

Rob Winterton on X NetChoice