Digital Library

In Hearing, Judge Seemed Torn on NetChoice’s Renewed First Amendment Attack on California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code

January 24, 2025

In a hearing yesterday on NetChoice’s second motion for a preliminary injunction against California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code (CAADC), Judge Beth Labson Freeman appeared far more skeptical of the trade association’s First Amendment arguments than the first time she ruled on the constitutionality of the law.

• Age Assurance

• Platform Accountability & Governance

• Platform Governance Laws & Regulations

• Privacy Laws

• Section 230

• The First Amendment

• U.S. State Privacy Laws

• Analysis

NetChoice v. Bonta

January 6, 2025

• Age Assurance

• Platform Accountability & Governance

• Platform Governance Laws & Regulations

• The First Amendment

• Amicus Briefs

EPIC Urges Northern District of California to Reject NetChoice’s Request to Enjoin California Law to Regulate Addictive Feeds for Minors

December 11, 2024

On December 10, 2024, EPIC submitted an amicus brief in NetChoice v. Bonta, an important case about whether the First Amendment prevents the government from regulating harmful, content-neutral features on online platforms. EPIC’s brief urged the court to deny the tech industry trade association NetChoice’s request for a preliminary injunction that seeks prevent California’s Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act (SB 976) from going into effect by declaring the law unconstitutional.

• Age Assurance

• Children's Privacy

• Data Protection

• Platform Accountability & Governance

• Platform Governance Laws & Regulations

• The First Amendment

• Updates

Utah Federal District Court Beats Back NetChoice’s Typically Overbroad Section 230 Arguments

July 25, 2024

• Platform Accountability & Governance

• Platform Governance Laws & Regulations

• Updates

Ninth Circuit Signals Mixed Bag for Litigants in NetChoice v. Bonta and X v. Bonta

July 18, 2024

• Consumer Privacy

• Platform Accountability & Governance

• Platform Governance Laws & Regulations

• The First Amendment

• Updates

Far From a Punt, SCOTUS’s NetChoice Decision Crushes Big Tech’s Big Litigation Dreams

July 16, 2024

The Supreme Court's decision in the NetChoice cases is a huge blow to Big Tech’s litigation strategy of requesting the broadest possible relief from regulation based on nothing more than vibes. 

• Children's Privacy

• Data Protection

• Platform Accountability & Governance

• Platform Governance Laws & Regulations

• Privacy Laws

• The First Amendment

• U.S. State Privacy Laws

• Analysis

In NetChoice Cases, Supreme Court Labels a Surprisingly Narrow Class of Online Platform Company Activities as Protected Expression

July 10, 2024

This blog post will discuss three major takeaways. First, the Court recognized that platform companies are engaging in protected expression in the narrow set of circumstances in which they enforce their community and content guidelines. Because humans at the companies used their editorial discretion to develop those guidelines, they reflect an expressive judgment about whether individual pieces of content conform to those guidelines. Second, the Justices signaled that when companies use machine-learning algorithms to enforce community and content guidelines, a lack of human input or oversight may mean the expression is more attenuated and less deserving of constitutional protection. Third, when companies curate user-generated content using non-content-based signals such as user behavior, it is unlikely to be considered expressive.

• Platform Accountability & Governance

• Platform Governance Laws & Regulations

• The First Amendment

• Analysis

Four Key Takeaways from the Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton Oral Arguments

February 28, 2024

In one of the most important internet regulation cases in recent memory, Supreme Court justices had a lot of questions for all the parties involved. Here are four takeaways (plus a few bonus quick hits) about how the oral arguments went.

• Platform Accountability & Governance

• Platform Governance Laws & Regulations

• The First Amendment

• Analysis

Tech Policy Press: Review of Amicus Briefs Filed in NetChoice Cases Before the Supreme Court 

February 24, 2024

• Consumer Privacy

• Democracy & Free Speech

• News

NetChoice v. Bonta: An exacting level of scrutiny no privacy law could survive

January 15, 2024

The AADC should have passed First Amendment scrutiny. But the judge in Bonta said that none of its challenged provisions did. Whatever test the judge applied is a poor fit for assessing the speech interests at issue in the case.

• Children's Privacy

• Data Protection

• Privacy Laws

• Proposed U.S. Legislation

• U.S. State Privacy Laws

• Analysis