By Diana Novak Jones

March 10 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday grappled with whether states can limit children’s access to social media sites, as Florida and Georgia pressed judges to revive state laws regulating the platforms.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in Jacksonville, Florida, in the states' appeals of preliminary injunctions barring the laws from taking effect. It was not immediately clear how the panel would rule.

Several of the states’ arguments appeared to gain traction with the judges, who questioned whether lower courts had too quickly concluded the laws violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

At least one judge on the panel questioned whether the judge examining the Florida law had properly considered all of its applications before deeming it unconstitutional, citing a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court decision that laid out that requirement.

The high court’s ruling directed courts to weigh the constitutional applications of the law against the unconstitutional ones, Circuit Judge Robert Luck said.

“How can we possibly make that determination on a facial challenge where we don't know the universe of applications and those that could be constitutionally applied and those that cannot be?” asked Luck, an appointee of Republican President Donald Trump.

“I think at a minimum, we win for the reasons that you're describing,” said Jeffrey DeSousa, Florida's acting solicitor general.

Erin Murphy, who represents the tech industry groups NetChoice and Computer & Communications Industry Association that had challenged the laws, said in the case involving Florida the state was responsible for showing that its law had more constitutional applications than unconstitutional ones. The groups' members include Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms and Snapchat parent Snap Inc., according to the groups’ websites.

“I don't think you can fault the district court when the state didn't make the argument,” Murphy said.

MENTAL HEALTH IMPACTS

The cases come amid growing nationwide scrutiny of social media companies over concerns their platforms contribute to mental health problems among children, prompting calls for tougher regulation and new limits on young users’ access.

Florida's and Georgia’s laws were among the country’s first to restrict children's social media use, but states such as Utah and Louisiana have also passed similar measures. Enacted in 2024, Florida's law bars children under the age of 14 from social media platforms that have so-called addictive features, which include things like video autoplay and infinite scroll.

Georgia’s law, enacted the same year, requires all minors to have their ages verified and parental consent before they can get social media accounts.

The judges on Tuesday also delved into the states' argument that the laws do not run afoul of the First Amendment because they regulate the sites' design and operation and have nothing to do with the content posted on them.

Circuit Judge Kevin Newsom, also a Trump appointee, said Florida’s law might be content neutral, but he noted that exceptions in Georgia’s law for certain types of websites risked regulating content.

That point also came up in another appeal the panel heard on Tuesday, a case brought by Florida’s attorney general seeking to revive an enforcement action against Snap brought under Florida’s social media law.

"What the state is really trying to do here is block teenagers from sharing their opinion on these social media platforms and on Snapchat, and that is a content-based distinction," said Katie Wellington, Snap's attorney.

Both Newsom and Luck pushed back on that, with Luck noting that teen speech isn't mentioned anywhere in the statute.

The judges sat on the panel with Circuit Judge Gerald Tjoflat, an appointee of former President Richard Nixon, a Republican.

The cases are Computer & Communications Industry Association, et al v. Florida, case number 25-11881; Florida v. SNAP Inc, case number 25-12814; and NetChoice v. Georgia, case number 25-12436.

For Florida: Acting Florida Solicitor General Jeffrey DeSousa and Clark Hildabrand of Cooper & Kirk

For Georgia: Georgia Solicitor General John Henry Thompson

For Snap: Katie Wellington of Hogan Lovells

For NetChoice and CCIA: Erin Murphy of Clement & Murphy

(Reporting by Diana Novak Jones)

((diana.jones2@thomsonreuters.com; 720-206-9604))