June 3 (Reuters) - A Florida federal judge has halted

enforcement of a law in the state that would have barred most

social media platforms from allowing youth to have accounts,

saying it is a violation of the First Amendment's protections on

free speech.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee granted

a motion for a preliminary injunction on Tuesday, siding with

trade groups NetChoice and Computer and Communications Industry

Association in holding that it unconstitutionally restricted the

speech of children. Under the ruling, the law will be on hold

until the litigation is resolved.

Jeremy Redfern, a spokesman for Republican Florida Attorney

General James Uthmeier, whose office is defending the law, said

in a statement that the "platforms do not have a constitutional

right to addict kids to their products." Uthmeier's office plans

to appeal it to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, he said.

The ruling is the latest win for the industry groups that

represent companies like Google and Meta Platforms ( META ), the

operators of YouTube and Facebook, and have successfully

challenged similar laws in states across the country.

"Like all Americans, Floridians have the right to access

lawful speech without the government controlling what they say,

share or see online," Chris Marchese, NetChoice's director of

litigation, said in a statement after the ruling.

The law, known as H.B. 3, required social media platforms to

bar users under the age of 14 and require users under 16 to get

parental consent before opening an account. It was set to take

effect January 1.

While the law was in effect in April, Florida sued Snap, the

owner of photo-sharing app Snapchat, accusing it of illegally

employing features that addict children and opening accounts for

children aged 13 and younger. Florida called Snap's conduct

"particularly egregious" because the Santa Monica,

California-based company markets Snapchat as safe for

13-year-olds, even though it can be used to view pornography and

buy drugs, among other harmful activities.

The case against Snap, which said the law infringes on

children's First Amendment rights, is ongoing, court records

show.

NetChoice has won injunctions in recent months against similar

laws in Utah and California that restricted the use of social

media platforms by youth.

In Tuesday's ruling, Walker said he appreciated that parents

are concerned about their children's social media use, but that

other, unchallenged provisions of the law offered them recourse.

The industry groups did not address some parts of the law that

directed social media companies to delete youth accounts at

parental request.