On September 18, 2023, federal district court judge Beth Freeman granted a preliminary injunction to block the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA), on the grounds that it violates the First Amendment. Specifically, the court found unconstitutional the AADC’s provisions on (1) mandatory Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA), (2) age estimation, (3) high default privacy settings, (4) age-appropriate policy language, (5) internal policy enforcement, (6) knowingly harmful use of children’s data, (7) profiling children by default, (8) restriction on collecting, selling, sharing and retaining children’s data, (9) unauthorized use of children’s personal information, and (10) use of dark patterns. The court also ruled that it could not sever the likely invalid portions of the AADC from the remainder and enjoined the entire statute. The lawsuit, filed by NetChoice, will determine whether companies need to be CA AADC-compliant on July 1, 2024, when the law is anticipated to take effect.

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