March 12 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Thursday

threw out most of an injunction that had blocked California from

enforcing a state law meant to shield children from social media

and other online content that could harm them mentally or

physically.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the trade group

NetChoice was unlikely to prove that the California

Age-Appropriate Design Code Act was invalid on its face. It

upheld the injunction with respect to some of the law's

restrictions.

NetChoice argued that the law turned its dozens of members,

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

Instagram parent Meta Platforms ( META ), Netflix ( NFLX ) and

Elon Musk's X, into state-deputized censors, violating the U.S.

Constitution's First Amendment.

The trade group had no immediate comment. Spokespeople for

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose office defended the

law, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022, the California 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 the 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.