Judge Totenberg (N.D. Ga.) preliminarily enjoined Section 3-1, the social media provisions, on June 26, 2025. The suit does not challenge the adult-site section. The Eleventh Circuit heard the appeal March 10, 2026; ruling pending.
Georgia SB 351 (Social Media and Adult Sites)
BadLawGA SB 351
Georgia, United StatesHigh threat
Georgia, United StatesHigh threatAdult-site age checks in force since July 2025; social media section enjoined, Eleventh Circuit ruling pending
- Introduced
- Passed Senate
- Passed House
- Became Law
Stage 4 of 4: Became Law
Bars under-16s from social media without a parent's consent and makes adult sites verify every visitor's age. The social media half is blocked; the adult-site half is in force.
Latest update
Eleventh Circuit heard the appeal
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Take action on this issueWhat it does
Georgia SB 351, the Protecting Georgia's Children on Social Media Act of 2024, requires social media companies to make commercially reasonable efforts to verify account holders' ages and to bar anyone under 16 from holding an account without a parent or guardian's express consent. It also limits advertising to minors to contextual ads. A separate section, O.C.G.A. 39-5-5, makes any site where more than a third of the material is harmful to minors use a reasonable age verification method, such as a digitized ID card or government ID, before letting anyone in. That section took effect July 1, 2025 and has not been challenged.
What’s at stake
Verifying that a user is over or under 16 means verifying everyone, so an age gate on a Georgia teenager becomes an ID gate on every Georgia adult. Judge Amy Totenberg blocked the social media section days before its July 1, 2025 start date, finding it likely violates the First Amendment. The adult-site ID requirement started on schedule.
Our take
Georgia copied the parental-consent template and drew the same injunction that stopped laws in Ohio, Arkansas, and Utah. The Eleventh Circuit appeal decides whether age-gating speech survives in the South, and Attorney General Chris Carr is pushing it there.
Timeline
Eleventh Circuit heard the appealLatest
Took effect. The adult-site age verification section (O.C.G.A. 39-5-5) is in force; the social media section was blocked days earlier
Judge Totenberg enjoined the social media section (Section 3-1) only
Signed by Governor Brian Kemp
Sponsor
Sen. Jason Anavitarte
Legal challenges
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