PASADENA, Calif.—Today, NetChoice secured a major victory from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which agreed that a majority of California’s Online Speech Code was unconstitutional. Of the six substantive provisions NetChoice challenged, five remain enjoined after today’s decision, and the remaining provision is hanging by a thread.
NetChoice will continue to vociferously make our case that the entire law, which is a Trojan Horse for mass digital censorship in America, is unconstitutional and must be stopped.
“Today’s decision is a huge victory for free speech and essentially a death knell for California’s online speech code. California cannot mandate vague and onerous changes to how speech is disseminated online. The Ninth Circuit was clear: on the substance, NetChoice is likely to prevail,” said Paul Taske, Co-Director of the NetChoice Litigation Center.
“This law is hanging on by a thread. To the extent there is some additional work to do in the district court, we look forward to making a full showing and striking down California’s Speech Code permanently.”
Since NetChoice initially sued to protect California families and free speech online from this inaccurately-labeled “AADC” in 2022, the state has militantly worked to implement this censorship regime. NetChoice will continue fighting to ensure online speech codes, including California’s, are stopped and the First Amendment is protected online in America.
You can read the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s ruling for NetChoice here.
Find case resources for NetChoice v. Bonta (2022) here.
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.