A US federal appeals court has blocked a major provision of Texas’ child online safety law, ruling that the state cannot require social media platforms to monitor and filter certain types of user-generated content.
In a 2-1 decision, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said a federal law that protects online platforms from liability for third-party content overrides the monitoring and filtering requirement included in the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act, also known as Texas House Bill 18.
The challenged provision required social media platforms to identify and remove content that “promotes, glorifies, or facilitates” self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, stalking, bullying, sexual abuse and several other harmful activities.
The law, which took effect in September 2024, had already been partially blocked by a lower court through injunctions. The Texas Attorney General’s Office, led by Ken Paxton, defended the legislation but did not immediately comment on the latest ruling.
The decision marks a legal victory for the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and NetChoice, whose members include Amazon, Google, and Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. The case is part of a broader legal debate over whether Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shields technology companies from liability for content posted by users.
The appeals court, however, upheld the law’s age-verification requirement. It also ruled that the nonprofit Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, which joined the lawsuit, did not have legal standing to challenge the law.
Writing for the majority, Circuit Judge Dana Douglas said Section 230 continues to protect social media companies from civil liability related to user-generated content, even though some critics view it as a “get-out-of-jail-free card” that shields platforms from “all but the most egregious consequences” of how their products operate.
In a partial dissent, Circuit Judge James Ho argued the Texas law should have been upheld, stating it “regulates curation, not publication—first-party speech, not third-party speech.”
Following the ruling, CCIA CEO Matthew Schruers said the decision “confirmed that federal law bars Texas from impressing websites and services into the role of state censors.” Paul Taske, Director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, called it “a win for every Texan who believes the government has no business deciding what they can read, watch and say online.”
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