California district court hands win to Big Tech industry, challenging efforts to protect kids from harm online

In response to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California’s decision yesterday to block the California Age Appropriate Design Code in a broad ruling that challenges efforts to pass safeguards to protect kids online at the state and federal level, Issue One’s Vice President of Technology Reform Alix Fraser provided the following statement:

“For too long, Big Tech companies have sacrificed the health and safety of children and teens, deliberately designing their products to be addictive and dangerous as they seek to maximize their profits. This recent ruling is deeply disappointing because it goes against the actions that California’s State Legislature took to keep children safe online. The decision uses a misinformed, inconsistent, and overly broad interpretation of the First Amendment’s free speech rights that will allow Big Tech companies to continue to harm children. The Age Appropriate Design Code models being introduced in 2025 include language that has been revised and honed to withstand legal challenges. Our legal system should uphold the right of states and the federal government to put in place commonsense guardrails that would keep kids below a certain age from suffering the worst harms of the internet and hold Big Tech companies accountable.”