California Court Blocks Online Child Safety Law

On March 13, US District Judge Beth Labson Freeman issued a preliminary injunction on CAADCA, California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit by NetChoice, which argued that the law likely violated its members’ free speech rights.

The CAADCA was signed into law in September 2022. It requires online businesses “likely” to be accessed by children to assess and report potential risks their platforms may pose.

These risks include collecting and selling children’s data, profiling them for advertising, and employing “dark design” patterns that may manipulate behavior. The law also mandates platforms create age estimates for underage users and configure personalized privacy settings for them by default.

Violations of the act could result in fines of up to $2,500 per affected child for negligence and $7,500 for intentional noncompliance.

NetChoice, an industry group that represents 35 companies, including Amazon, Google, Meta, X, Snap, and Pinterest. The group claims the law forces platforms to make overly vague and subjective decisions that stifle free expression.

Krista Chavez, Senior Communications Manager for NetChoice, described the law as overreaching. “[CAADCA] conscripts websites and digital services to act as roving online censors for the state and creates serious cybersecurity vulnerabilities for Californians and their families,” Chavez wrote in a recent blog post.

Judge Labson Freeman had previously issued a full preliminary injunction against the CAADCA in 2023, blocking the entire law from taking effect. The Ninth Circuit later modified that ruling, upholding some parts and vacating others, and sent the case back for further review. NetChoice now says this latest decision once again halts the law in its entirety.

“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,” said Chris Marchese, NetChoice Director of Litigation.

The group has a history of blocking child safety laws in US states such as Maryland and Mississippi.

The CAADCA was modeled after the United Kingdom’s Age Appropriate Design Code. The code was drafted by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which has recently launched probes into the child privacy practices on platforms like TikTok and Reddit.