We’re going to be litigating this past legislative session for a long time.
Two tech industry groups, the Computer and Communications Industry Association and NetChoice, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to block a new Texas law that would require platforms like Instagram and Facebook to register the age of all users and get consent from a parent or guardian before minors create an account.
Here’s what you need to know.
The background: Texas lawmakers in 2023 passed House Bill 18, known as the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act, to limit minors’ access to social media platforms and to protect them from seeing harmful content if they do gain access.
State Rep. Shelby Slawson, R-Stephenville, carried the bill and said its purpose was to give parents more control of how minors’ information is collected and used by digital service providers, which are companies that operate websites, applications, programs or software that collects or processes personal identifying information.
Lawmakers said children’s overexposure to digital platforms resulted in increased rates of self-harm, suicide, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, human trafficking and other mental health issues. “Texas parents have had enough,” Slawson said in a statement after the bill was voted out of a House committee.
Under the law, digital service providers would have to get a parent or guardian’s consent before allowing a minor to create an account. And it forces those companies to give parents the ability to supervise the minor’s use of the digital platform. The law also requires social media platforms to figure out ways to prevent children’s exposure to “harmful” material, such as content that promotes self-harm or substance abuse.
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In their legal filing, the plaintiffs argue that HB 18 unconstitutionally violates First Amendment free speech rights by forcing websites to monitor and remove certain types of speech and by restricting minors’ access to lawful speech.
Plaintiffs argue that parents already have tools to regulate if and how their minor children use the internet and that the companies they represent effectively moderate their content.
The legal filing pulled heavily from CCIA and NetChoice’s recent complaint against House Bill 20, a 2021 Texas law prohibiting large social media companies from banning users’ posts based on their political viewpoints.
“Just like its last attempt, Texas has enacted a law targeting disfavored online publishers and their dissemination of protected, valuable expression online,” the filing states.
I don’t have any earlier posts about HB18, but I have been covering the litigation against HB20, which remains blocked after SCOTUS sent it back to the lower courts. There’s not much in this story, but the NetChoice press release and this Twitter thread by their litigation director, gives a clear view of the grounds on which the suit was filed. I was a bit skeptical of their assertions at first, but the more I read the more I tend to agree that this law is broad, vague, and given that it includes an SB8-style vigilante provision, will almost certainly lead to speech restrictions. We’ll see what the courts make of it. The law is scheduled to go into effect on September 1, so I expect there will be a ruling on a temporary restraining order before then.