California social media law likely violates the First Amendment, Ninth Circuit panel rules

A 2022 law signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom aimed at protecting young people online likely violates the First Amendment of the Constitution, a panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday.

The bipartisan law, co-authored by Democratic Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks of Oakland and Republican (now former) Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham of San Luis Obispo, prohibited social media platforms from using children’s personal information or geolocation data. It also required that privacy information, terms of service, policies and community standards be easily accessible.

Newsom signed the Age-Appropriate Design Code Act into law in September 2022.

While the law was supposed to go into effect this summer, it was put on hold while the federal courts weighed the merits.

“The panel held that NetChoice was likely to succeed in showing that the CAADCA’s requirement that covered businesses opine on and mitigate the risk that children may be exposed to harmful or potentially harmful materials online facially violates the First Amendment,” according to the decision.

As a result, the Ninth Circuit ordered that that portion of the law continue to be blocked from enforcement, while throwing out the rest of the preliminary injunction against the law. It then sent the case back down to the U.S. District Court for further review.

The Ninth Circuit is the appeals court that oversees U.S. district courts in the western United States, as well as Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

The plaintiff behind the lawsuit, NetChoice, which represents major tech industry players, issued a statement in response hailing the court’s decision.

“The Ninth Circuit’s ruling is a victory for free expression, online security and Californian families,” Chris Marchese, director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, said in a statement. “The court recognized that California’s government cannot commandeer private businesses to censor lawful content online or to restrict access to it.”

The Bee has reached out to the offices of Newsom, Wicks and California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is defending the law. This story will be updated if any response is received.