Washington – The Computer & Communications Industry Association filed an amicus brief Tuesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in NetChoice v. Bonta, which challenges AB 2273, the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, a law that would give the government greater control over online services and content. CCIA urged the court to affirm the preliminary injunction entered by the Northern District of California in September 2023.
In the brief, CCIA explains that AB 2273’s restrictions on content that may be “materially detrimental” to persons under 18 years of age unconstitutionally limit the speech of both digital service providers and internet users. The statute is, CCIA argues, “all but impossible to understand, much less apply in any consistent or predictable way,” and “effectively requires publishers to condemn their own services in favor of the State’s preferred dogma about contentious social and scientific questions.”
CCIA has advocated for free speech online for more than 25 years. This includes the First Amendment right of private businesses to determine what material to display and offer to their communities.
The following can be attributed to CCIA Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff Stephanie Joyce:
“AB 2273, with its reliance on undefined terms and rudderless standards, both restricts and compels the speech of private actors in plain violation of the First Amendment. No government may dictate what speech is published or what viewers see. This statute should never go into effect.”