Washington – The Computer & Communications Industry Association filed a brief today explaining why its complaint and motion for preliminary injunction of Texas HB18, filed July 30, should be granted. CCIA, with co-Plaintiff NetChoice, explained that Texas’s latest attempt to regulate online speech, this time trying to age-gate the internet, violates the First Amendment. The law is set to become effective September 1, 2024, unless the judge grants the preliminary injunction to block it.
The following can be attributed to CCIA Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff Stephanie Joyce:
“We have demonstrated to the court that Texas HB18 infringes protected speech, and the State has failed to justify the statute’s invasive and onerous blocking and age-gating restrictions. In keeping with the Supreme Court’s recent holding that Texas’s previous attempt to regulate speech likely violates the First Amendment, HB18 should be barred from becoming effective. Such attempts to dictate what users can access online are antithetical to a free society.”