CCIA and NetChoice v. Ashley Moody

Summary

The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and NetChoice, two trade association groups that represent tech companies including Meta and TikTok, filed suit against Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody over Florida House Bill 3 (H.B.3), an “online protections for minors.” The bill was signed into law in March 2024. The bill is set to go into effect on January 1, 2025, but the trade groups are seeking injunctive relief, claiming H.B.3 "violates the First Amendment" like similar laws that have preceded it. While the suit cedes that Florida has a "legitimate interest in protecting minors," it asserts that it is "not obvious what HB3 is designed to 'protect' minors from" because it doesn't "focus on any particular content that may pose special risk to minors."

NetChoice and the CCIA previously filed joint complaints against Florida and Texas Attorneys General Ashley Moody (NetChoice v. Moody) and Ken Paxton (NetChoice v. Paxton), respectively, over a pair of state laws prohibiting social media platforms from de-platforming candidates for political office and fining them each day a candidate remains on the platform. The First Amendment facial challenges were litigated all the way to the Supreme Court, but were unanimously returned to the lower courts to "decide which of the laws’ applications violate the First Amendment."