Texas AG Says Groups Lack Standing on Social Media Law
Don’t let internet companies hide behind groups, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) urged Thursday. NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association lack associational or organizational standing, so their complaint against the Texas social media law should be dismissed,…
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said Paxton’s motion at U.S. District Court in Austin (case 1:21-cv-00840). “Consistent with how they avoid accountability to the public at large, Plaintiffs’ members have attempted to shield themselves from the burdens of challenging a law they do not like by getting their lobbying groups to do it for them,” he said Thursday. “But Plaintiffs cannot meet standing requirements based on bare assertions that their members protect the public from harm, let alone their claims that these behemoths of the tech world should be exempt from all transparency requirements in their intentional practices currently affecting Texas’ citizens’ free access to information.” NetChoice didn’t comment. Friday, Judge Robert Pitman extended until Oct. 22 a deadline for Texas to respond to the industry groups' preliminary injunction motion. The groups urged the court Wednesday not to delay the case by two months (see 2110130056). The judge in the similar Florida case dispensed with the state's standing objection in one sentence, said CCIA President Matt Schruers in a statement: “CCIA and NetChoice unquestionably have legal standing as trade associations whose members are affected by these unconstitutional laws that violate the First Amendment and federal law."