COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on Monday appealed a ruling from a federal judge that struck down a law that would have required social media companies to verify the ages of its users and verify parental consent for those under the age of 16.

Yost, who is running for Ohio governor in 2026, filed the notice of appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Judge Algenon L. Marbley, a Clinton appointee, ruled in April that the law is unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment, and blocked Yost from enforcing the law. See a report on Marbley’s ruling in the video player above.

At the time of the decision, Yost’s office said it was reviewing the order to determine the next steps.

Under the law, social media companies would have had to develop methods for verifying the ages of its users by asking for government ID, credit or debit card information, or a digital consent form. Users under 16 would have had to get “verifiable parental or legal guardian consent.”

NetChoice, which sued to block the law, argued that the law was so vague that it would have restricted access to sites regardless of the type of content.

“This Court lauds the State’s effort through the Act to protect the children of this state,” Marbley wrote in his judgment. “This Court finds, however, that the Act as drafted fails to pass constitutional muster and is constitutionally infirm. And in this constitutional democracy, it cannot be gainsaid that even the government’s most noble entreaties to protect its citizenry must abide in the contours of the U.S. Constitution, in this case the First Amendment.”

State lawmakers are now considering a bill that would require consent in app stores instead of on individual social media apps.