The 9th Circuit Court narrows an injunction on California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, agreeing with NetChoice that part of the law likely violates the First Amendment.
Bollywood Fever: A federal appeals court on Friday took a significant step in the legal battle over California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, a law designed to protect children using the internet.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals narrowed a previous injunction that had blocked California from enforcing the law, while also indicating that a key provision of the law would likely be found unconstitutional.
The court agreed with NetChoice, a trade group representing major tech companies like Amazon, Google, Meta Platforms, and ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company), that the law likely violated the First Amendment. Specifically, the court took issue with the requirement for businesses to evaluate and mitigate potential risks that children may encounter harmful materials online.
This requirement, the court suggested, would force businesses to express opinions and take actions that could infringe on free speech rights.
However, the court set aside the broader preliminary injunction that had been in place, noting that the judge who originally imposed it had not adequately considered all of NetChoice’s objections or assessed whether the law could still stand without the unconstitutional parts.
The California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act mandates that platforms assess the potential harm to children before launching any online products or services.
While the law’s intention is to create a safer online environment for children, the legal challenge by NetChoice argues that it imposes unconstitutional burdens on tech companies, raising significant concerns about freedom of speech and expression.
As the legal process continues, the decision by the 9th Circuit Court highlights the ongoing tension between state efforts to regulate online content for the protection of children and the constitutional rights of businesses operating in the digital space.
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