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Battle builds over California's new tech law

Tech industry groups are pushing back against California's new social media transparency law, signaling a legal challenge may be ahead following in the footsteps of cases brought against GOP-backed content moderation laws in Texas and Florida.

We'll also dive into how state attorneys general are leading efforts to take on the market power of the nation's biggest technology firms as efforts to do so in Congress are stalled.

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Tech groups prepare to take on California law

Californian Democrats appear headed for a similar legal battle facing Texas Republicans as the fight over content moderation plays out through state laws.

California's transparency law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) last week, has the opposite intent as that of a law backed by Texas Republicans that is set to go into effect after an appellate court ruled Friday in favor of the state.

But the industry groups opposing Texas's law are tying the two together, arguing that both content moderation laws are unconstitutional and could set dangerous precedents that lead to more hate speech online.

"Regardless of whether it's a Democratic or Republican intent, the First Amendment applies equally. And this is exactly where these bills fail in protecting the First Amendment, and this is essentially government compelled speech," said Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel of the tech industry group NetChoice.

Tech groups haven't filed a suit against the California law yet, but signaled one may be approaching.

"I think there are lots of people talking to lots of attorneys about the clear constitutional failures of this legislation," Szabo said.
Adam Kovacevich, CEO and founder of the tech group Chamber of Progress, said the group is "certainly looking at potential legal action against" California's transparency law.
"I think one of the things worth noting is that both Texas and the Florida Republican laws had transparency requirements similar to that of the California bill. And those were written by MAGA state legislators, whereas the California bill was written by progressive Democrats. Our view is that they're all unconstitutional," he said.

Read more here.

States battle Big Tech

State attorneys general are leading efforts to crack down on the power of big technology firms, as highlighted by California's suit filed last week against Amazon and a Texas-led coalition's measured win in its fight against Google.

The cases are just two in a long line of state-led efforts to rein in the power of tech giants that are showcasing the bipartisan angst at Big Tech and momentum on the state level to take on the industry's most dominant companies while congressional efforts to do so are stalled.

"Whether you're Republican or Democrat, people can see what's going on with these big companies, Big Tech companies and the power and the levers that they exert over everyday Americans, is a little bit scary," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) told The Hill. "I think people are realizing, the attorneys general are realizing, that if we don't address this soon it may be too late, you may never be able to stop it."

Nearly every state is suing Google and Meta, Facebook's parent company, between three cases filed against the companies in the past two years.
The unified efforts help state enforcers pool their resources to give them a chance against the mammoth firms. But they're still facing an uphill battle to take on the country's most prosperous businesses while using a rulebook critics say is outdated to go after the new age industry titans.