NetChoice Asks to Halt California Addictive Feeds Law This Year

Tech industry trade group NetChoice’s request to block a California law restricting childrens’ access to social media platforms and “addictive algorithms” had a federal judge pondering recent US Supreme Court precedent at a hearing Tuesday.

Judge Edward J. Davila, at an hours long hearing in San Jose, Calif., repeatedly referenced a footnote in the top court’s most recent social media case—NetChoice v. Moody, involving a challenge to Florida’s social media law—which revealed the justice’s divided views about free speech protections for online platforms.

Whether a social media company’s algorithmic feed is expressive speech by the company and protected ...