Woodhull Freedom Foundation Joins First Amendment Challenge to Colorado’s Compelled Social Media Warning Law
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — July 20, 2026 — Washington, DC
Woodhull Freedom Foundation has joined an amicus brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to strike down a Colorado law that would require social media platforms to display government-mandated warnings about the alleged harms of social media for minors.
NetChoice, a trade organization for social media companies, filed suit challenging the law. Today’s amicus brief, led by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and joined by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Colorado, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and Woodhull Freedom Foundation, was filed with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of that challenge.
Colorado’s law would require social media platforms to display either a government-drafted warning or language derived from government-approved or peer-reviewed research warning minors about the potential mental and physical health effects of social media use. The brief argues that, regardless of the government’s objectives, the First Amendment prohibits the government from compelling private speakers to communicate its preferred viewpoint about lawful, protected speech.
“History shows that some of the greatest threats to free expression have come wrapped in the language of protecting children,” said Ricci Levy, President & CEO of Woodhull Freedom Foundation. “Lawmakers have repeatedly used concern for minors to justify expanding government control over lawful expression, whether it’s rock music, video games, or now social media. Protecting young people is an important goal, but the First Amendment does not permit the government to compel private speakers to deliver its preferred message.”
Woodhull has joined a series of amicus briefs challenging state laws that threaten free expression online, including laws in Virginia, Louisiana, Texas, and now Colorado. These cases involve efforts to restrict young people’s access to social media, impose digital age-verification requirements, or otherwise compel or burden lawful speech. While the laws differ, they share a common constitutional flaw: they permit the government to decide what lawful speech people may access, create, or communicate online, and under what conditions. Woodhull has consistently argued that the First Amendment does not permit the government to erode free expression in the name of protecting minors.
The brief explains that Colorado’s warning requirement goes well beyond a traditional consumer disclosure. Rather than requiring the communication of objective, uncontroversial factual information, the law compels private speakers to repeatedly convey the government’s contested viewpoint about protected speech. As the Supreme Court recently reaffirmed, even well-intentioned efforts to promote public health cannot override the Constitution’s prohibition on compelled speech.
A federal district court previously blocked enforcement of the law after concluding that it likely violates the First Amendment. The appeal is now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
You can read the amicus brief here.
About Woodhull Freedom Foundation
Woodhull Freedom Foundation is a national human rights organization working at the intersection of sexual freedom and human rights. Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, Woodhull defends free speech, privacy, bodily autonomy, and the principle that sexual freedom is a fundamental human right.
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