Tech Groups: Court Should Block Texas’ Latest Social Media Law

Texas’ social media age-restriction law violates the First Amendment because it limits access to content in a way that prohibits free speech, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice said Friday in a lawsuit seeking to block the new measure (docket 1:24-cv-00849) (see 2407300030). In a filing with the U.S. District Court of Western Texas, the trade associations requested a preliminary injunction against HB-18. Set to take effect Sept. 1, HB-18 requires that social media platforms obtain parental consent before allowing minors to use their services. CCIA Senior Vice President Stephanie Joyce said in a statement that Texas failed to justify the law’s “invasive and onerous” age-gate restrictions: “In keeping with the Supreme Court’s recent holding that Texas’s previous attempt to regulate speech likely violates the First Amendment, HB18 should be barred from becoming effective. Such attempts to dictate what users can access online are antithetical to a free society.”