Court Revives Most of California Child Safety Law

A federal appeals court on Thursday threw out most of an injunction that had blocked California from enforcing a state law meant to shield children from social media and other online content that could harm them mentally or physically.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the trade group NetChoice was unlikely to prove that the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act was invalid on its face. It upheld the injunction with respect to some of the law's restrictions.

NetChoice argued that the law turned its dozens of members, including Amazon.com, Google, Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms, Netflix and Elon Musk's X, into state-deputized censors, violating the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

The trade group had no immediate comment. Spokespeople for California Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose office defended the law, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022, the California law required businesses to create reports addressing whether their online platforms could harm children, and take steps before launch to reduce the risks.

It also required businesses to estimate the ages of child users and configure privacy settings for them, or provide high settings for everyone. Civil fines could reach $2,500 per child for negligence and $7,500 per child for intentional violations.