Opposition to California age verification law makes allies of Big Tech, non-profits

California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code continues to face pushback from both Big Tech and digital rights groups. A release from the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) says it has filed an amicus brief with the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in NetChoice v. Bonta, supporting the challenge to the constitutionality of the code and its attendant law.

CCIA Senior Vice President and Director of the CCIA Litigation Center for the Connected Economy Stephanie Joyce argues that “the Constitution prohibits the government from dictating what lawful content readers can see – and it extends that protection regardless of the reader’s age. Though well-intentioned, California’s internet age restriction law is unconstitutional and the court of appeals should affirm the decision to block it.”

The CCIA shares several members with NetChoice, including Amazon, Google, Meta and eBay. NetChoice has thus far been the preferred weapon for Silicon Valley in its fight against age assurance laws for social media, leading the charge on behalf of Meta, X and other platforms.

There is some irony in how digital rights advocates have found themselves on the same page as Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk (owners of Meta and X, respectively). The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Center for Democracy & Technology have likewise filed an amicus brief assurance measures in California’s code violate users’ First Amendment rights. It goes further than the CCIA, taking aim at the entire premise of age verification.

“CDT and EFF’s brief argues that the appeals court should uphold the injunctions solely on the basis of its overbroad, unconstitutional age verification requirement because that requirement is not severable from other provisions and should doom the entire statute.”

“Social media helps minors develop their own ideas, learn to express themselves, and engage productively with others in our democratic public sphere,” says the brief.

This is the second time Netchoice v. Bonta, which pits Big Tech against California Attorney General Rob Bonta, has come before the court of appeals. Per the CCIA, “the Ninth Circuit at first upheld the injunction of only one part of the law, remanding the rest for additional review. In its second analysis of the law, the district could again find that the statute, in its entirety, would likely fail to survive constitutional challenge.”

Article Topics

age verification  |  California  |  California Age Appropriate Design Code (CAADC)  |  children  |  Computer & Communications Industry Association  |  digital identity  |  EFF  |  Netchoice  |  social media