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The court rejected an industry challenge that sought to prevent the state from implementing protections enacted in the wake of the Trump administration’s gutting of federal open-internet rules.

The California law has already had some tangible impact.

A federal appeals court rejected an attempt from industry groups to prevent the state from enforcing the law.

A new bill would make it harder for companies like Apple, Facebook and Google to protect people targeted with hate and disinformation online.

The court concluded that California was within its rights to step into the vacuum created by the Trump FCC’s repeal of federal open-internet rules.

The court said that states could fill the gap created when the Trump administration ended federal Net Neutrality rules.

Tech companies like Facebook and Google have not invested enough in content moderation to catch and remove vile content, especially in Spanish and other non-English languages.

“We need to let these stellar public-interest advocates fill their roles now,” said Free Press Action Co-CEO Craig Aaron.

The brief argues that Facebook’s advertising tool discriminates based on “protected characteristics” of users, including race and gender.

For years, federal agencies have exploited legal loopholes to purchase massive amounts of personal information sold by data merchants who harvest sensitive material from cellphone and internet users.