<
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/07/warning-ny-minnesotas-social-media-warning-label-laws-are-unconstitutional/>
"Both New York and Minnesota just passed laws requiring social media platforms
to slap warning labels on their sites—warning labels based on zero scientific
evidence, likely to be struck down as unconstitutional compelled speech, and
designed solely to let politicians pretend they’re “protecting children” while
actually making their lives worse.
You’d think lawmakers would learn.
When Texas passed a ridiculous law requiring adult websites to add “health
warning labels” based on no science at all, even the notoriously ridiculous
Fifth Circuit—a court that never met a garbage internet law it didn’t like—said
“whoa, the mandated health warning part’s obviously unconstitutional.” The
court explained that compelling websites to display the state’s preferred
message about content when there’s no scientific consensus is completely out of
line:
We are not scientific journal editors, much less social scientists,
behavioral experts, or neurologists. The courts generally are not the place
to hash out scientific debate, particularly not on so contentious a topic as
the impacts of engaging with pornography. Experts must do that in academic
journals, studies, and presentations. Therefore, the record leaves us with
no option but to declare that the health impacts of pornography are
currently too contentious and controversial to receive Zauderer scrutiny.
But apparently, NY and Minnesota lawmakers saw that ruling and thought: “Let’s
do the exact same thing, but for social media!”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
