A federal judge has blocked Arkansas Act 900, the state’s Social Media Safety Act, one day before it was scheduled to take effect, issuing a preliminary injunction on First Amendment grounds and marking the second time the same court has enjoined an Arkansas social media age verification statute.
US District Judge Timothy Brooks of the Western District of Arkansas found that NetChoice, the tech industry trade group challenging the law, is likely to succeed on its constitutional claims. The case is NetChoice v. Griffin. Act 900, passed in 2025, required social media platforms to verify account holders’ ages before allowing account creation, prohibit the use of “addictive features” for minor users, configure default settings for minors at the most protective level available, and provide parents with a dashboard to monitor their children’s platform activity. The Act 900 ruling is the second time Judge Brooks has enjoined an Arkansas social media age verification law, after blocking the 2023 Act 689 on similar grounds.
Judge Brooks identified two primary constitutional deficiencies. The “addictive practices” prohibition is unconstitutionally vague, lacking a clear definition. The default settings requirements likely violate the First Amendment by burdening speech without sufficient justification. “Imposing small burdens on vast quantities of speech for no appreciable benefit is not consistent with the First Amendment,” Brooks wrote. “Arkansas cannot sentence speech on the internet to death by a thousand cuts.” NetChoice Litigation Center’s Paul Taske called the ruling “spot on,” characterizing Act 900 as “deeply flawed.”
The same judge previously enjoined Act 689, Arkansas’s 2023 social media age verification law. Arkansas’s first age verification injunction prompted the legislative revisions that produced Act 900, which has now met the same fate. The ruling adds to a growing pattern: Arkansas becomes the latest state, alongside Texas and Mississippi, to have social media age verification legislation blocked on First Amendment grounds. A parallel Texas injunction on First Amendment grounds came in December 2025. The multi-state string of injunctions is building toward a potential resolution from the Supreme Court, which has been examining challenges to state online age verification laws.
The ACLU, ACLU of Arkansas, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation supported the challenge. Arkansas has not indicated whether it will appeal. The injunction was issued April 20, 2026.
Sources: UALR Public Radio, ACLU, Bloomberg Law
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By Cass Kennedy
