5th Circuit blocks Texas law requiring websites to filter "harmful" speech
Summary
A federal appeals court blocked a Texas law that required websites to monitor and filter certain speech to protect minors. The court said the federal law, Section 230, prevents Texas from enforcing this rule because it would force websites to censor lawful content.Key Facts
- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled against Texas enforcing a law to filter harmful speech for minors online.
- The law targeted social media and websites to block speech categories like suicide promotion, bullying, and child exploitation.
- Tech groups CCIA and NetChoice challenged the law, winning a preliminary injunction in a lower court.
- The 5th Circuit ruled 2-1 that the Texas law conflicts with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
- Section 230 generally protects websites from being treated as the publisher of third-party content.
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed but was not able to overturn the block on enforcing the law.
- The court distinguished this case from a previous one where age verification on porn sites was allowed.
- The ruling allows other parts of the Texas law unrelated to content filtering to remain in effect.
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