United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

A federal appeals court has ruled that Florida's law banning children under 14 from holding personal social media accounts is likely constitutional, reversing a lower court's preliminary injunction that had blocked enforcement. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which had already stayed the injunction pending the state's appeal, found the law content-neutral and said it survives intermediate scrutiny because it does not burden more speech than necessary to protect minors from social media addiction.

The law, HB 3, was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2024 with broad bipartisan legislative support. It bars under-14s from creating accounts, requires parental consent for 15- and 16-year-olds, and applies only to platforms with addictive features such as algorithm-driven, unlimited scrolling feeds. NetChoice, the tech industry trade group that challenged the law, called the ruling disappointing, warned it could force platforms to verify users' ages and parental status, and said it is weighing further legal options.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state Cabinet voted Tuesday to designate the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), its Florida chapter, the Muslim Brotherhood and antifa as domestic terrorist organizations, alongside more than 90 groups already on the federal foreign terrorist list, including al-Qaeda, Iran's IRGC, the Houthis and Mexican drug cartels. The designations, made under new state law HB 1471, are set to take effect Nov. 5 and could strip groups of public funding and contracts, force dissolution, and impose criminal penalties for material support, with added consequences for Florida schools and colleges.

CAIR and civil-liberties groups, including the ACLU and Southern Poverty Law Center, are challenging the action in federal court, arguing it violates First and Fourteenth Amendment protections and lacks evidence of violent conduct. A prior DeSantis executive order against CAIR was previously blocked by a federal judge. State officials, including Attorney General James Uthmeier, defend the designations as necessary to cut off funding to groups they say support terrorism. The legal fight is expected to intensify before the November effective date.