PHOENIX—Today, NetChoice heads to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on our request for a full stay to halt California’s SB 976, an online censorship and surveillance law, from going into effect while our case, NetChoice v. Bonta (2024), proceeds.
This is the next step in our lawsuit. In 2024, the District Court blocked most of SB 976 in favor of NetChoice, but it unfortunately left in place a controversial provision allowing bureaucrats to violate critical speech protections for online feeds, contradicting in the Supreme Court’s 2024 NetChoice v. Moody ruling. NetChoice now is asking the Ninth Circuit to preliminarily halt that portion of the law, too.
“NetChoice remains confident the court will halt SB 976 in its entirety while our case proceeds,” said Paul Taske, NetChoice Associate Director of Litigation. “This law poses significant threats to Californians’ constitutional freedoms and online privacy. NetChoice is resolved to ensure California’s digital censorship framework is halted in full as our case proceeds.”
Details:
Begins at 8:30 AM MST (11:30 AM Eastern)
Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse
Ceremonial Courtroom
401 W Washington St, Phoenix, AZ 85003 (link to court calendar)
*There will be a livestream available HERE.
Read the Ninth Circuit’s latest ruling granting NetChoice a temporary stay pending today’s hearing here. Learn more about NetChoice v. Bonta (2024) here.
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.
Top Takeaways of NetChoice v. Bonta (2024):
- Tramples Over Free Speech: SB 976 disregards the First Amendment by conditioning Californians’ right to access protected speech online on whether they hand over their sensitive, personal data.
- Mandates the Surveillance of Families Online: The government is mandating that companies verify identities just to access an online service, verify parental information at multiple levels if applicable, and collect massive amounts of data on how a young Californian is using that service. Online businesses are additionally required by law to store this data and report it to the government regularly. This is a backdoor requirement for online surveillance by California’s government.
- Risks all Californians’ safety and security online: SB 976 will create a honeypot of sensitive information that will be a prime target for cybercriminals and predators to attack and exploit. It harms the security of all internet users, especially minors, which already suffer as prime targets of data breaches and identity theft. Ransomware attacks affected 2.9 million American students in 2023, an increase of over 144% from the previous year. This law will make it worse.
- Gives partial treatment to exempt the government’s favored companies: The unequal compliance and enforcement standards of SB 976 reveal the true nature of the law: it isn’t about protecting kids online—it’s about punishing politically disfavored businesses like social media companies and major channels where Americans access information and engage in speech.