Texas cannot enforce a law’s requirement that websites block minors from seeing harmful speech, the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled on Friday.

Big Tech lobby groups challenged the Texas “law’s requirement that certain social media-based ‘digital service providers’ (DSPs) monitor and filter content accessible to known minors to prevent exposure to several categories of potentially harmful speech,” judges wrote. In a 2-1 ruling in favor of the tech groups’ challenge, judges said the monitoring and filtering requirement is preempted by Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and NetChoice challenged portions of the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act (SCOPE Act), which applies to websites and online applications that collect or process personally identifying information. The tech groups won a preliminary injunction from a district court. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed to the 5th Circuit but wasn’t able to convince judges to reverse the injunction that prevents enforcement of the monitoring and filtering rules.

The district court held in August 2024 that the SCOPE Act’s monitoring and filtering requirement is preempted by Section 230’s prohibition on treating interactive computer services as the publisher or speaker of information provided by someone else. “CCIA and NetChoice have shown a likelihood of success on the merits of their preemption claim, which is enough to support the district court’s granting of a preliminary injunction in their favor,” the 5th Circuit panel wrote.

The law “would have forced websites to censor broad, vaguely defined categories of lawful speech,” NetChoice said. “The 5th Circuit is right to keep it blocked. Parents, not the government, are best positioned to decide what is appropriate for their own families, and today’s ruling protects that fundamental right.”

Filtering mandate went too far

The famously conservative 5th Circuit appeals court has upheld several Texas laws imposing obligations on websites and online platforms. That includes a 2024 case in which it upheld an age-verification requirement imposed on porn websites.