March 14 (Reuters) - A federal judge said California

cannot enforce a state law meant to shield children from online

content that could harm them mentally or physically.

U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman ruled on Thursday

that the trade group NetChoice deserved a preliminary injunction

because it was likely to show the California Age-Appropriate

Design Code Act violated its members' free speech rights under

the Constitution's First Amendment.

NetChoice said the law would turn its 39 members including

Amazon.com ( AMZN ), Google, Facebook and Instagram

parent Meta Platforms ( META ), Netflix ( NFLX ) and Elon Musk's

X into state-deputized censors, and "censor the internet under

the guise of privacy."

The office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, which

defended the law, did not immediately respond on Friday to

requests for comment.

Ambika Kumar, a lawyer for NetChoice, called the law "a

breathtaking act of unconstitutionally vague and overbroad,

content-based censorship. We are pleased to see it enjoined."

Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2022,

California's law required businesses to create reports

addressing whether their online platforms could harm children,

and take steps before launch to reduce the risks.

It also required businesses to estimate ages of child users

and configure privacy settings for them, or provide high

settings for everyone. Civil fines could reach $2,500 per child

for negligence and $7,500 per child for intentional violations.

In her 56-page decision, Freeman said the law imposed

significant burdens and was not narrowly tailored to advance

California's alleged compelling interest in protecting children

from bullying, harassment, sexual exploitation, sleep loss and

other harms.

"A regulation that focuses on the emotive impact of speech

on its audience is content-based, and therefore must be drawn as

narrowly as possible," the San Jose, California judge wrote.

"The state has not shown that the is narrowly drawn here."

Freeman also enjoined the law in September 2023. A federal

appeals court set aside part of her injunction last August and

ordered a reassessment. The law was supposed to take effect last

July.

The case is NetChoice LLC et al v Bonta, U.S. District

Court, Northern District of California, No. 22-08861.