California AG Again Enjoined from Implementing California Age Appropriate Design Code Act

On March 13, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted a second motion for preliminary injunction in favor of the technology trade group NetChoice. The injunction once again enjoins the California Attorney General from enforcing the California Age Appropriate Design Code Act (the “AADC” or “Code”), which was originally intended to take effect on July 1, 2024. The District Court determined that NetChoice is likely to succeed on claims raised in its amended complaint that the AADC is facially invalid under the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. As a result, the California AG is immediately enjoined from enforcing the Code during the pendency of the litigation.

The claims of free speech infringement stem primarily from the Code’s requirement for covered businesses to perform a data protection impact assessment (“DPIA”) to identify material risks to children under the age of 18, document and mitigate those risks before such children…