San Jose Judge Blocks Enforcement of Calif. Age-Appropriate Design Code

U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman for Northern California in San Jose granted NetChoice’s motion for a preliminary injunction blocking California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) from enforcing the state’s Age Appropriate Design Code (AB-2273), finding that California hasn't shown that the challenged statute "passes constitutional muster," said her signed order Monday (docket 5:22-cv-08861).

NetChoice has shown that it’s likely to succeed on the merits of its argument that the law’s provisions violate the First Amendment and the Constitution's dormant commerce clause, and is preempted by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, said the judge. The law requires online providers to create a data protection impact assessment report identifying, for each offered online service, product or feature likely to be accessed by children under 18, any risk of material detriment to children arising from the provider’s data management practices.

NetChoice, which publicized Freeman’s decision, said in a statement that it looks forward “to seeing the law permanently struck down and online speech and privacy fully protected.” NetChoice had argued that AB-2273 regulates speech because it restricts how, under what conditions, and to whom content may be published, and it indisputably regulates speech based on content. Bonta’s office didn’t immediately comment.