A federal judge has granted a request to block the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA), which requires special protections for underage users’ online data. Judge Beth Freeman granted tech industry group NetChoice's preliminary injunction in a ruling issued today, saying the law may violate the First Amendment. It's the latest of several state internet regulations to be blocked amid ongoing litigation over state internet regulations, including some that may be heading to the Supreme Court.
CAADCA is intended to expand on existing laws, such as the federal COPPA framework, that regulate how websites collect data from children. But Justice Freeman objected to some of the provisions, arguing they would unlawfully target legitimate speech. "While the bill's stated purpose - to protect children while they are online - is clearly important, NetChoice has shown that it is likely to prevail on the merits of its argument that the provisions in CAADCA designed to achieve that purpose do not pass constitutional muster," Freeman wrote.
Freeman cited legal writer Eric Goldman, who argued that the law would force websites to erect barriers for children and adults. Among other things, the ruling took issue with the requirement that websites estimate the age of visitors to detect underage users. The rule is ostensibly meant to reduce the amount of data collected on younger users, but Freeman noted that it could involve invasive technologies like face scanning or biometric information analysis - which ironically requires users to provide more personal information.
The law offers sites an alternative to subjecting all user data collection to minor standards, but Freeman found that would also hinder legitimate speech because part of the law's goal is to avoid targeting ads with objectionable content to children. "Data and privacy protections designed to protect children from harmful content, if applied to adults, will protect adults from the same content," Freeman concluded.
California has passed several bills aimed at regulating online content, while challenges to others -- including a lawsuit by X (formerly Twitter) over a law regulating how sites moderate hate speech -- continue. But courts elsewhere have found that some state laws may be unconstitutional. In August, another court blocked a law requiring age verification for online pornography, saying it also required intrusive data collection and limited constitutionally protected speech by adults. An Arkansas law restricting access to social media to underage users was also blocked on the same day.
The Supreme Court recently blocked a Texas ban on changes to much online content, setting off a fight that could determine how much control states have over the internet. The Biden administration has urged the Supreme Court to strike down core provisions of the law, as well as a similar law in Florida last month.