In Friday’s ruling, judges noted the difference between the age-verification requirement in the porn website case and the content-filtering rule in the new case. “Unlike the age-verification requirement we addressed in that case, [the SCOPE Act’s] monitoring and filtering requirement is all about filtering content, and is thus preempted,” they found.
The 5th Circuit and other appeals courts “have interpreted Section 230 to provide DSPs with ‘broad immunity’ from ‘all claims stemming from their publication of information created by third parties,’” the 5th Circuit panel said. The state law required websites to prevent known minors’ exposure to material defined as obscene under Texas law, and other content “that promotes, glorifies, or facilitates” suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, substance abuse, stalking, bullying, harassment, grooming, trafficking, and “child pornography, or other sexual exploitation or abuse.”
Paxton argued that the Texas law imposes no liability for harms from the content they host. The law is not preempted because it “imposes compliance duties, not publisher liability,” and aligns with the child-protection goals of Section 230, he argued.
Other parts of law can be enforced
