{"id":504859,"date":"2026-10-23T01:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T01:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/504859\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T01:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T01:30:08","slug":"netchoice-v-bonta-california-censorship-labels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/504859\/","title":{"rendered":"NetChoice v. Bonta (California Censorship Labels)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Websites cannot be forced to act as mouthpieces for California\u2019s views about social media. NetChoice\u2019s newest <a href=\"https:\/\/netchoice.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1-2026-10-22-Complaint-CA-Warning-Label-FILED.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">lawsuit<\/a> challenges California\u2019s latest attempt to control and compel online speech. AB 56 forces websites to display California\u2019s preferred message about social media use-\u2013messages that cannot be skipped by users and get larger and more frequent over time. And just like laws in <a href=\"https:\/\/netchoice.org\/netchoice-v-weiser-colorado\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Colorado<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/netchoice.org\/netchoice-v-ellison-minnesota-censorship-labels\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Minnesota<\/a> that NetChoice is already challenging, AB 56 is flatly unconstitutional. The goal is to deter users from online services and push the government\u2019s controversial views on social media. This is compelled speech, a direct violation of the First Amendment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California\u2019s AB 56 singles out the websites where free speech thrives today, especially on political and cultural issues. The First Amendment bars the government from making private actors speak for it, whether the medium be a billboard, a newspaper, or a website. States cannot do by \u201cwarning label\u201d what they\u2019re forbidden from doing by outright ban, and trying to chill speech through stigma is still censorship. A federal court already blocked Colorado\u2019s nearly identical law in <a href=\"https:\/\/netchoice.org\/netchoice-v-weiser-colorado\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NetChoice v. Weiser<\/a>, and California\u2019s is even more extreme.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California is using legitimate concerns about mental health as cover for a law that\u2019s really about power. The science on how online services affect mental health and well-being is still emerging and contradictory, and it\u2019s even thinner for adults. There\u2019s no credible evidence that a government warning label improves youth well-being.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Users will ultimately pay the price. The state\u2019s goal is to annoy people away from websites whose content it dislikes, cluttering their screens with government messages they must sit through no matter how many times they\u2019ve seen them. Lawmakers who want a better online environment for kids should pursue constitutional measures like those in <a href=\"https:\/\/netchoice.org\/netchoices-digital-safety-shield-for-america\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NetChoice\u2019s Digital Safety Shield for America<\/a>. California is free to share its own views through public campaigns and resources, but it can\u2019t force private websites to speak for it.<\/p>\n<p>Court Filings<\/p>\n<p>            NetChoice Initial Complaint<\/p>\n<p>NetChoice\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/netchoice.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1-2026-10-22-Complaint-CA-Warning-Label-FILED.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">complaint<\/a> filed on October 22, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Websites cannot be forced to act as mouthpieces for California\u2019s views about social media. NetChoice\u2019s newest lawsuit challenges&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-504859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}