A federal judge in Denver has blocked a new state law that’s intended to warn young users about the dangers of too much time on social media, ruling that requiring tech companies to display the warnings on their apps likely violates the First Amendment.
U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martinez’s Thursday is a win for a coalition of tech companies that sued in August to block the enactment of 2024’s . He granted a preliminary injunction against the measure, which would require those companies to display warning labels to minors about the potential impacts to the youths’ brains and health — a provision that the companies argued was compelled speech.
Martinez agreed, writing that requiring the companies to display warning pop-ups appeared likely to violate the First Amendment. His order prevents the warning label provision of the law from taking effect on Jan. 1, when it was set to kick in, while the broader lawsuit winds through the courts.
“The Court fully appreciates Colorado’s legitimate effort to protect the children and adolescents of our state from the impacts of social media use on their health and wellbeing,” he wrote. “The Court concludes, however, that it is substantially likely NetChoice will succeed on the merits of its claims that Colorado may not pursue this laudable goal by compelling social media companies to speak (the state’s) expressive messages.”
NetChoice is the coalition of tech companies that sued to block the warning pop-ups. They would need to be displayed for minors who had been on social media for more than an hour in a 24-hour period.
In a statement Thursday, the group hailed the ruling and said the law was “nothing more than government censorship online disguised as a ‘warning label.’ ”
Lawrence Pacheco, a spokesman for Attorney General Phil Weiser, declined to comment on the ruling.
In a statement from Healthier Colorado, which supported the warning labels, spokeswoman Mary Kate Morr wrote that the group hopes “this law will ultimately be found constitutional so that Colorado can continue leading the way in protecting our youth from the serious mental health risks posed by excessive social media use.”
The ruling does not apply to other parts of HB-1136, including a provision requiring state officials to maintain a list of resources about the effects of social media use on young people.
