NetChoice Continues Challenges Against State Social Media Design Laws

The day after the South Carolina Age-Appropriate Code Design Act (the “Act”) went into effect, NetChoice filed suit challenging the Act, alleging that the law “imposes an unlawful censorship regime that will fundamentally control how websites present speech and information to their users, what speech they present, and how hundreds of millions of Americans access that speech.”  NetChoice, a prominent trade association that represents major internet and social media companies like Google, Meta, Pinterest, Reddit, and TikTok, is asking a federal judge to halt enforcement of and to overturn the Act.

The lawsuit argues that the content social media sites display is protected under the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and expression. The Act, NetChoice argues, “regulates how covered services select, rank, recommend, and display speech to their users – all protected expression.”

On February 5, 2026, Gov. Henry McMaster signed the Act into law as a stated effort to protect minors online.  Under the provisions of the Act, social media app developers are required to allow users under the age of 18, or their parents, the ability to turn off certain features, such as messages, comments and the algorithms sites use to show users posts similar to those they previously engaged with.  South Carolina became the fifth state to enact an age-appropriate design code law, joining California, Maryland, Nebraska, and Vermont.

Several of the Act’s provisions mirror those found in the existing age-appropriate design code laws.  For example, consistent with the Maryland law, the South Carolina Act imposes several default protections for minors, including requiring tools and safeguards be turned on by default, opting minors out of “personalization recommendation systems” by default, and setting personal data settings to the highest level of protection.  In line with Nebraska’s law, covered online services must offer a functionality for minor users to prevent notifications and alerts from the hours of 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. all year, and from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on weekdays during the school year.

NetChoice has been successful in its suits to enjoin other state social media laws, including in Arkansas (requiring age verification to create new social media accounts), Louisiana  (imposing age restrictions on social media platforms). Mississippi (requiring digital service providers to verify the age of all users and requiring parental consent for users under 18), and Ohio (requiring social media platforms to verify whether users are at least 16 and obtaining consent for children under 16 prior to creating an account).

Notably, while NetChoice did appeal to Governor Pillen to veto the Nebraska Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, it has not brought suit to enjoin enforcement of the Act (which the Nebraska Attorney General may enforce beginning on July 1, 2026).