ATLANTA—The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled today against NetChoice and CCIA in CCIA & NetChoice v. Uthmeier, our challenge to Florida’s HB 3.
“We are disappointed in the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling, which allows Florida to enforce its law imposing digital ID requirements as a condition for accessing lawful speech,” said Paul Taske, Director of the NetChoice Litigation Center.
“We are currently evaluating all of our options as we continue the fight to ensure Floridians’ rights to free expression online are protected, and parents remain in the driver’s seat when it comes to making decisions for their families.”
In practice, this means that social media websites must verify the ages and/or parental statuses of all their users — forcing Floridians of every age to hand over sensitive personal information just to access lawful speech online. HB 3 will also require these sites to terminate existing accounts they deem were created by Floridians under 14, further bar current Floridians under 14 from creating accounts, and require Floridians who are 14- and 15-years-old to obtain parental consent before they can do so.
Read the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling today here.
Find case resources for CCIA & NetChoice v. Uthmeier here.
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.