Assembly Bill 2273, a law that in many respects is the first of its kind, was drafted to protect the collection of student data by online businesses likely to be accessed by children, regardless of the content. Internet trade group, Net Choice, brought an action to halt implementation of the law on the grounds that it violated the free speech of businesses required to comply. While a federal appeals court ultimately decided to allow much of the law to move forward, key provisions were successfully blocked—including the provisions that mandated businesses be required to reduce the risk that children would be exposed to harmful online content. Restrictions on the type of data collected from children and its subsequent use by businesses operated online remain intact. 

"The appeals court’s decision is “a huge victory for free speech and essentially a death knell for California’s online speech code,” NetChoice attorney Paul Taske said in a statement. He said the court had left intact key provisions of a federal judge’s injunction against the state law, including the law’s limits on use of data obtained from children. But Bonta said the court “largely sided with California, ruling that tech companies were unlikely to show that the (law) as a whole poses a First Amendment risk, and allowing much of this law to go into effect.”

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