TALLAHASSEE — Pointing to a “significant interest in protecting children and youth from social media’s harms,” 27 states last week backed Florida in an appeals-court battle about a law aimed at keeping kids off certain social-media platforms.

Attorneys general from the states, including Republicans and Democrats, filed a friend-of-the-court brief at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as Florida seeks to overturn a district judge’s ruling that blocked the law on First Amendment grounds.

“Excessive social media use has led to an alarming spike in adverse mental health outcomes among teenagers,” the brief, authored by Utah Solicitor General Stanford Purser, said. “And it increases youth susceptibility to depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide.”

The law (HB 3), which was one of th

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