(The Center Square) – The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Georgia law on Thursday that requires age verification before minors can access social media sites.
NetChoice, a trade organization representing apps like Facebook and Instagram, sued to stop Senate Bill 351, which Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law in 2024.
The law would penalize social media companies that failed to comply by imposing fines of up to $2,500 per violation if the company did not remedy it within 90 days.
Judge Amy Totenberg called the law “constitutionally infirm” in a June 2025 ruling and granted a preliminary injunction, keeping the law from taking effect.
The appeals court said in its ruling, provided to The Center Square by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s office, that it’s unlikely NetChoice’s lawsuit will succeed.
“This is a major win for Georgia families and a huge blow to those who would stand in the way of commonsense solutions to protect our kids,” Carr said in a statement. “We have said before – it shouldn’t take lawsuits, investigations or legislation to do the right thing. This is about keeping our children safe from online predators and mental health harms. Nothing is more important.”
Paul Taske, director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, told The Center Square in a previous interview that the law would have unintended consequences.
“When the government is mandating that another source of information be collected and a repository created of this sensitive information to verify people’s ages, their identities and their relationships to their parents, that creates a ‘treasure trove’ or a ‘honeypot,’ whatever you want to call it of sensitive information,” Taske said.
The case goes back to District Court.
Taske said NetChoice is evaluating its next legal steps.
“While we are disappointed in the 11th Circuit’s ruling, the court notably did not hold that SB351 is constitutional,” Taske said in a statement. “We remain committed to fighting for Georgians’ right to free expression online and ensuring parents, not the government, stay in charge of decisions for their families.”
NetChoice has challenged similar laws in other states with varying success. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed Ohio’s social media verification law to move forward in a July decision.
But the same appeals court vacated a District Court’s denial of a preliminary injunction to halt Tennessee’s social media age-verification law. The ruling was not a decision on constitutional issues, but it orders the lower court to consider NetChoice’s chances of succeeding based on constitutional claims.
Taske said previously that lawmakers have other choices to ensure the online safety of minors.
“Law enforcement are of course the best line of defense for going after criminals and lawbreakers in any realm of criminal activity and that doesn’t change just become it’s happening online,” Taske said. “Whether that’s additional funding for monitoring or setting up special task forces for dealing with cybercrime.”
Education is also a “powerful tool,” Taske said.
“In addition to educating the younger users in the classroom, we think that it would be excellent for the government to allocate some funds to educate parents as well,” he said.