• by Wendy Davis , Yesterday

The tech group NetChoice is pressing a federal judge to block Maryland's Age-Appropriate Design Code, which would require online businesses to assess whether new features could harm users under 18, and also has privacy provisions that would restrict online businesses' ability to collect data from minors.

In papers filed Friday with U.S. District Court Judge Richard Bennett in Baltimore, NetChoice says its members require users' data in order to "create, disseminate, and facilitate speech."

"Online user data is akin both to the ink and paper necessary to publish newspapers and the subscriber addresses necessary to distribute them," NetChoice writes.

The group -- which counts Meta, Google, Snap and other large tech companies as members -- adds that without data such as users' IP addresses, language preferences and time zones, websites "could not direct content to an end recipient, detect malicious actors, and ensure functional services."

The Maryland law's privacy restrictions specifically would prohibit web companies from processing data that isn't needed to provide services minors are engaging with, absent opt-in consent. The statute's content-related provisions include a mandate that online businesses evaluate whether a new product likely to be accessed by children is “designed in a manner consistent with the best interests of children.”

NetChoice sued in February to block the law, arguing it violates the First Amendment and is inconsistent with other federal laws -- including the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

Late last week, the group reiterated its position, contending both that its members require users' data, and that the law infringes on its members' ability to wield editorial control over their platforms.

"The Act operates as a prior restraint on speech, limiting websites’ ability to create, disseminate, and facilitate online speech unless that speech satisfies an amorphous 'best interests of children' standard," the group wrote. "That mandate directly targets protected expression, requires websites to consider and restrict their offerings based on content."

NetChoice adds that the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act -- which prohibits web companies from knowingly collecting personal data of children under 13 -- overrides inconsistent state laws.

Maryland officials oppose NetChoice's petition. Among other reasons, state officials say the law is a consumer protection measure that "regulates the conduct of companies that engage in commercial endeavors."

"By restricting the extent to which companies can process children’s data, the Kids Code ensures that companies do not profit off of practices that expose children to foreseeable risks of harm," the state attorney general's office wrote in papers filed last month with Bennett.

A federal judge in California blocked a similar law in that state. California officials are appealing that ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Unless enjoined, the Maryland law will take effect next year.