(CNN) -- Indiana can't kick all registered sex offenders off instant messaging services, chat rooms or social networking sites like Facebook, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The state passed a law in 2008 that was aimed at keeping predators from trolling the Internet for new victims. But that law "broadly prohibits substantial protected speech rather than specifically targeting the evil of improper communications to minors," a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded. State courts can impose limits on social media as a condition of a sex offender's probation or parole, but a "blanket ban" on Internet use violates the First Amendment's guarantee of free expression, the judges found.
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NEW: The Indiana law banned "completely innocent" conduct, the ACLU argued
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NEW: The state's attorney general said the law protected "reasonable interests"
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Indiana can't slap a "blanket ban" on social media for sex offenders, court finds
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Federal judges have struck down similar bans in Nebraska and Louisiana
"We have worked with county sheriffs and prosecutors in our defense of the legal challenges to these protections of our children, and we will need to review this 7th @placeholder ruling to determine the state's next steps."