District Court Grants Preliminary Injunction Against Calif. Age-Appropriate Design Code
The U.S. District Court for Northern California on Thursday granted NetChoice’s request for a preliminary injunction against California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA) aimed at protecting the privacy and safety of children online. California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) and his office are enjoined from enforcing the act.
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“This Court finds that the CAADCA’s coverage definition is content-based,” said Judge Beth Labson Freeman in case 22-cv-08861. “Under well-established precedent, a plaintiff’s showing that a statute is content-based shifts the burden to the State to show that the statute is narrowly tailored to promote a compelling Government interest… The demonstration of a compelling interest is not sufficient to satisfy strict scrutiny, however. The State must show that ‘the recited harms are real, not merely conjectural, and that the regulation will in fact alleviate these harms in a direct and material way,’” which the state does not do.
“Today’s ruling reaffirms -- for the third time in California -- that the government cannot control what lawful speech Americans see, say, or share online,” said Chris Marchese, NetChoice’s director of litigation. “While protecting children online is a goal we all share, California’s Speech Code is a trojan horse for censoring constitutionally protected but politically disfavored speech. This decision puts other states on notice that censorship regimes masquerading as ‘privacy protections’ will not survive judicial review.”
California DOJ Is "reviewing the order and will respond appropriately in court," a spokesperson said.