Louisiana Act 456 (Social Media Age Checks)
What it does
Passed in 2023 alongside the porn-site law, Act 456 required social media platforms with more than 5 million users to make reasonable efforts to verify account holders' ages, with parental consent required for minors. In NetChoice v. Murrill, a federal judge granted summary judgment against it in December 2025: conditioning access to protected speech on handing over government ID violates the First Amendment, and the law was too vague to survive anyway. The injunction is permanent. Attorney General Murrill says Louisiana will appeal to the Fifth Circuit.
Why it matters
Louisiana runs the full playbook in one state: the porn-site age law the Supreme Court upheld, this social media age law the courts killed, and an app store age law waiting to start. Where the age check goes next depends on which of those three venues survives, and the appeal puts this one in front of the same Fifth Circuit that revived Texas's app store law.
Our take
A court finally said it plainly: making people surrender ID to speak online is unconstitutional. Louisiana's answer is to appeal, and its backup plan is already law at the app store level. The lesson states are learning is not to stop checking IDs; it is to move the checkpoint somewhere courts have not looked yet.
Votes
- Senate — Final passage (37 to 0)
- House — Final passage (76 to 18)
Timeline
- December 18, 2025Summary judgment for NetChoice; permanent injunction (NetChoice v. Murrill)
Legal challenges
Permanent injunction granted December 2025; Louisiana appealing
Related bills
Our coverage: all age-verification stories