Arkansas
Arkansas requires commercial websites where more than one third of content is harmful to minors to verify users are 18 or older under a 2023 law that remains in effect. Arkansas has enacted three social media minor access laws since 2023, the original Social Media Safety Act and two 2025 acts strengthening its addictive design rules and adding civil liability for platforms. Federal courts have blocked all three on First Amendment grounds: the 2023 Act was permanently enjoined and is on appeal to the Eighth Circuit, and the two 2025 Acts took effect in August 2025 but are now preliminarily enjoined.
Subnational jurisdiction. Reviewed 2026-07-15.
Act 612 of 2023 (SB66), Protection of Minors from Distribution of Harmful Material Act
Makes a commercial entity liable if more than one third of its website content is material harmful to minors and it fails to perform reasonable age verification using a government issued ID, digital identification, or a commercially reasonable method meeting identity assurance level 2.
- Citation
- Act 612 of 2023 (SB66), codified at Ark. Code Ann. § 4-88-1101 et seq.
- Status
- In force
- Effective date
- 2023-08-01
- Applies to
- Private sector
- Age threshold
- 18
- Verification methods
- gov id, digital id, third party service
- Covered services
- Commercial websites, excluding social media platforms, where more than one third of content is material harmful to minors.
- Enforcement body
- Private civil action; Arkansas Attorney General
- Private right of action
- yes
- Source
- Act 612 of 2023 (SB66), codified at Ark. Code Ann. § 4-88-1101 et seq.
Act 900 of 2025 (SB611), Social Media Safety Act amendments (addictive design)
Amends the Social Media Safety Act to lower the covered minor age from 18 to 16, prohibit addictive design features, require default privacy settings, and disable non-essential notifications between 10 PM and 6 AM. Signed April 21, 2025; most provisions took effect August 5, 2025, while the addictive design and notification duties in Section 2 carried a delayed effective date of April 21, 2026, one year after enactment.
- Citation
- Act 900 of 2025 (SB611), amending Ark. Code Ann. § 4-88-1401 et seq.
- Status
- Enjoined
- Effective date
- 2025-08-05
- Applies to
- Private sector
- Age threshold
- 16
- Verification methods
- gov id, digital id
- Covered services
- Social media platforms as statutorily defined.
- Litigation
- NetChoice, LLC v. Griffin, No. 5:25-cv-05140 (W.D. Ark.), U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, Preliminarily enjoined on April 20, 2026, one day before the delayed addictive design provisions were to take effect; the injunction has been reported as on appeal to the Eighth Circuit.
- Source
- Act 900 of 2025 (SB611), amending Ark. Code Ann. § 4-88-1401 et seq.
Act 901 of 2025 (SB612), social media platform civil liability
Creates a private right of action against a social media platform whose design, algorithm, or feature causes a minor to suffer harm such as an eating disorder, suicide or attempted suicide, or platform addiction. Signed April 21, 2025 and effective August 5, 2025 with no separate effective date clause.
- Citation
- Act 901 of 2025 (SB612), codified at Ark. Code Ann. §§ 4-88-1501 to 4-88-1503
- Status
- Enjoined
- Effective date
- 2025-08-05
- Applies to
- Private sector
- Covered services
- Social media platforms as statutorily defined.
- Private right of action
- yes
- Litigation
- NetChoice, LLC v. Griffin, No. 5:25-cv-05140 (W.D. Ark.), U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, Preliminarily enjoined on December 15, 2025 as likely violating the First Amendment and unconstitutionally vague; the injunction has been reported as on appeal to the Eighth Circuit.
- Source
- Act 901 of 2025 (SB612), codified at Ark. Code Ann. §§ 4-88-1501 to 4-88-1503
Act 689 of 2023 (SB396), Social Media Safety Act
Would have required social media companies to use a third party vendor to perform reasonable age verification, such as a digitized ID or government issued ID, before allowing account access, and to obtain parental consent for minor accounts.
- Citation
- Act 689 of 2023 (SB396), codified at Ark. Code Ann. § 4-88-1401 et seq.
- Status
- Struck down
- Effective date
- 2023-09-01
- Applies to
- Private sector
- Age threshold
- 18
- Verification methods
- gov id, digital id
- Covered services
- Social media companies as statutorily defined.
- Litigation
- NetChoice, LLC v. Griffin, No. 5:23-cv-05105 (W.D. Ark.), U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, Declared unconstitutional as a content based speech restriction and unconstitutionally vague, and permanently enjoined on March 31, 2025. The state appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (No. 25-1889), then moved in August 2025 to dismiss the appeal and vacate the judgment after Act 900 of 2025 rewrote the statute; merits briefing was on hold pending that motion as of mid 2026.
- Source
- Act 689 of 2023 (SB396), codified at Ark. Code Ann. § 4-88-1401 et seq.
Reviewed 2026-07-15. Confidence: high. Fast-moving area, verify before relying. Not legal advice.