CCIA & NetChoice v. Paxton

Litigation to Protect Online Speech

CCIA is a co-plaintiff, along with NetChoice, challenging Texas HB18, the Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act, which attempts to age-gate the internet. Texas’s latest attempt to regulate online speech and block access to information — its online age verification and parental consent law — violates the First Amendment, as does a governmental mandate forcing websites to gather personal information about minors and adults to verify users’ ages and family relationship.

Summary:

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion on July 1 stating that the Fifth Circuit’s review of Texas HB20 “rest[s] on a serious misunderstanding of First Amendment precedent and principle” and that Texas “is not likely to succeed in enforcing its law,” CCIA brought a similar suit in Texas federal court challenging HB18 on First Amendment grounds, among others. While framed as safety legislation, HB18 presents similar problems as HB20, imposing both unsustainable regulatory obligations and unrealistic technology mandates on digital services’ whose websites are viewed in Texas.

Statements:

• CCIA Files Case Challenging Constitutionality of Texas’s User-Restriction Law
• CCIA Files Court Brief Supporting Injunction of Texas’s User-Restriction Law

Filings

• CCIA/NetChoice Complaint
• CCIA/NetChoice Motion for Preliminary Injunction
• CCIA/NetChoice Reply Brief