BALTIMORE – Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown last week joined a coalition of 22 Attorneys General urging the U.S. Supreme Court to make it clear that states have the authority to regulate social media platforms. An amicus brief was submitted in two cases currently before the court, Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton, which are challenges to laws passed in Florida and Texas. The brief focuses on states’ important interests in regulating social media platforms to prevent harm to their residents.

The brief, submitted by Attorney General Brown and the coalition, explains that social media platforms present significant, diverse and ever-changing risks to Americans, especially the nation’s youth. To address that fact, states have taken action to protect minors from those risks, to enforce data privacy and transparency requirements for platforms, and to combat the use of social media to facilitate human trafficking, the spread of child sexual abuse material, and the sale and distribution of fentanyl and other opioids.

“Our children are exposed to dangerous content on social media platforms that continues to harm their mental health and emotional development,” Attorney General Brown said. “We must put protections in place to prevent further damage and continue working to protect future generations from experiencing the same negative effects social media has had on our youth.”

The brief urges the U.S. Supreme Court to recognize states’ important interests in these areas and to avoid interpreting the First Amendment to immunize social media platforms from regulation. 

In filing the brief, Attorney General Brown joins the Attorneys General of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.