5th Circuit blocks Texas law requiring websites to filter "harmful" speech
A federal appeals court ruled that a Texas law requiring websites to monitor and filter harmful content is preempted by Section 230, while allowing other parts like age verification to stand.
On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued a ruling blocking a key provision of Texas's Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act. The judges distinguished this requirement from the age-verification mandate upheld in a separate case involving porn websites. They found that the monitoring and filtering requirement is about filtering content, not just age checks, and thus is preempted by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Section 230 provides "broad immunity" for platforms from claims stemming from publishing third-party content, the panel noted.
The Texas law had required websites to prevent known minors from exposure to obscene material and content that promotes suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, substance abuse, stalking, bullying, harassment, grooming, trafficking, and child sexual abuse. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that the law imposes compliance duties, not publisher liability, and aligns with Section 230's child-protection goals. However, the 5th Circuit disagreed, stating that enforcement actions for violations are claims stemming from the platforms' actions as publishers, including monitoring, screening, and deletion of content.
The ruling was not a complete loss for Paxton, as the court found that a student group lacked standing to challenge the law. Therefore, other parts of the law can be enforced. These include requirements for platforms to register users' ages before account creation, avoid targeted advertising to known minors, make reasonable efforts to prevent advertisers from targeting minors with ads for illegal products, and verify users are 18 or older if more than one-third of the platform's content is obscene.
