NEW ORLEANS—Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will hear Mississippi’s appeal of NetChoice’s preliminary injunction against its unlawful I.D.-for Speech.
Mississippi’s unconstitutional social media age verification law censors a vast amount of legal speech, blocks all Mississippians from accessing protected speech online unless they hand over their sensitive, personal data, and puts their data privacy and security in jeopardy. Federal courts are consistently stopping these kinds of censorship regimes because they so blatantly violate Americans’ protected freedoms.
“Right now, as a direct result of Mississippi’s law, Mississippians are being deprived of their right to access constitutionally protected speech. As the Supreme Court has consistently reaffirmed, Americans, including minors, have a right to access lawful speech without government interference. Like many censorship efforts before it, as Justice Kavanaugh recognized, Mississippi’s HB 1126 is likely unconstitutional, ” said Paul Taske, Co-Director of the NetChoice Litigation Center.
“We are confident the Fifth Circuit will agree, and we look forward to restoring access to lawful online speech in Mississippi.”
Hearing Information:
John Minor Wisdom United States Court of Appeals Building, East Courtroom
600 S Maestri St, New Orleans, LA 70130
9:00 AM Central TimeLivestream will be available here.
Top Takeaways of NetChoice v. Fitch:
- HB 1126 violates the First Amendment because it conditions Mississippians’ access to vast amounts of protected speech on handing over their sensitive, personal data.
- It jeopardizes the security of all users, especially minors, by requiring them to surrender sensitive, personal information and creates a new target for hackers and predators to exploit.
- Parents and guardians are best situated to control their family’s online presence. HB 1126 usurps the parental role and seizes it for the state.
- A vast amount of speech could be unintentionally censored online under the vague requirements of the government under the law, including: The U.S. Declaration of Independence, Sherlock Holmes, The Goonies, the National Treasure movie series featuring Nicholas Cage, Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department album, and much more.
NetChoice remains confident we will succeed at ultimately striking down Mississippi’s law. As Justice Kavanaugh wrote in his concurrence:
“To be clear, NetChoice has, in my view, demonstrated that it is likely to succeed on the merits—namely, that enforcement of the Mississippi law would likely violate its members’ First Amendment rights under this Court’s precedents…In short, under this Court’s case law as it currently stands, the Mississippi law is likely unconstitutional.”
Find case resources for NetChoice v. Fitch here.
Contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.