{"id":814,"date":"2026-07-24T20:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=814"},"modified":"2026-07-24T20:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:41:14","slug":"us-appeals-court-blocks-part-of-texas-childrens-online-safety-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=814","title":{"rendered":"US Appeals Court Blocks Part of Texas Children&#8217;s Online Safety Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>By Jonathan Stempel<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>July 24 (Reuters) &#8211; A divided federal appeals court on \u2060Friday \u2060blocked Texas from enforcing a key \u2060provision of a state law meant to shield children from harm through using \u200bsocial media.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=812\">U.S. Small Businesses File Lawsuit Challenging Trump\u2019s New \u2018Forced Labor\u2019 Tariffs<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Trade groups had challenged a requirement that operators of social media platforms monitor and filter content that &#8220;promotes, glorifies, \u200cor facilitates&#8221; self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, \u200csubstance abuse, stalking, bullying, sexual abuse and several other types of conduct.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>In a 2-1 decision, the 5th U.S. \u2060Circuit Court of \u2060Appeals in New Orleans said a federal law that broadly shields the \u200bindustry from liability for information posted by third parties preempted the monitoring and filtering requirement in Texas&#8217; Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act, or SCOPE Act.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>A lower court had issued injunctions blocking parts of the law, which took effect in \u200bSeptember 2024 and is also known as Texas House Bill 18.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The office of Texas Attorney General Ken \u2060Paxton \u2060defended the law. It did \u2060not immediately respond \u200bto requests for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Friday&#8217;s decision was a victory for the Computer &amp; Communications Industry Association and NetChoice,\u00a0which both \u200binclude Amazon, Google and Facebook \u2060and Instagram parent Meta Platforms among their members.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>States and social media companies have long been at odds over whether Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act shields the industry from responsibility to police user content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>In March, a different federal appeals court voided much of an injunction that blocked California from enforcing its own law, the \u2060California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, shielding children from harmful social media content.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=810\">Tropical Storm Bertha Moves Inland Near Texas-Louisiana Border, NHC Says<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&#8216;GET-OUT-OF-JAIL-FREE CARD&#8217;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>In Friday&#8217;s decision, \u2060Circuit Judge Dana Douglas wrote that Section 230 protects social media companies from civil liability for user content, despite the specter it might be a \u201cget-out-of-jail-free card\u201d immunizing the industry from &#8220;all but the most egregious consequences&#8221; of how their products function.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The New Orleans-based appeals court upheld an age-verification requirement in the Texas law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>It also said the nonprofit Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, which also sued to block the law, lacked standing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Circuit Judge James Ho partially dissented and would have upheld the Texas law, saying it &#8220;regulates curation, not publication\u2014first-party speech, not third-party speech.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>CCIA Chief Executive Matthew Schruers said the \u2060decision &#8220;confirmed that federal law bars Texas from impressing websites and services into the role of state censors.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Paul Taske, director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, called the decision &#8220;a win for every Texan who believes the government has no business deciding what they can read, watch and say online.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Paxton is \u200bthe Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat from Texas in November&#8217;s election.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=808\">Soccer-IOC Rejects Human Rights Group Complaint Against Infantino Over Trump Support<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>(Reporting by \u200bJonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><b>Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters<\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US News is a recognized leader in college, grad school, hospital, mutual fund, and car rankings. Track elected officials, research health conditions, and find news you can use in politics, business, health, and education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[74,8,83,87,60],"class_list":["post-814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news","tag-california","tag-sign-in-to-manage-your-newsletters","tag-social-media","tag-texas","tag-united-states"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US Appeals Court Blocks Part of Texas Children&#039;s Online Safety Law - Office Moving America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=814\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Appeals Court Blocks Part of Texas Children&#039;s Online Safety Law - Office Moving America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"US News is a recognized leader in college, grad school, hospital, mutual fund, and car rankings. 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