ATLANTA—Today, a court granted NetChoice’s request to halt a law forcing Georgians to surrender their sensitive personal information to access constitutionally protected speech online.
In the 50-page opinion, Judge Amy Totenberg delivered a decisive rebuke of the law’s sweeping censorship and sloppy design, emphasizing that:
“The Act curbs the speech rights of Georgia’s youth while imposing an immense, potentially intrusive burden on all Georgians who wish to engage in the most central computerized public fora of the twenty-first century.”
“This is a major victory for free speech, constitutional clarity and the rights of all Georgians to engage in public discourse without intrusive government overreach,” said Chris Marchese, NetChoice Director of Litigation. “We are grateful the court recognized what we’ve long argued: SB 351 isn’t just poorly crafted—it’s profoundly unconstitutional.”
“This ruling reaffirms that even well-intentioned laws must pass constitutional muster,” Marchese added. “Free expression doesn’t end where government anxiety begins. Parents—not politicians—should guide their children’s lives online and offline—and no one should have to hand over a government ID to speak in digital spaces.”
This ruling once again underscores what NetChoice has been saying in our cases to protect free expression across America: the government cannot condition access to protected speech—especially not on users surrendering their private information. This has now been recognized in Arkansas, Ohio, California, Mississippi, Florida, Texas and Utah, and today, Georgia joins that list.
If it had gone into effect, SB 351 would have:
- Required all Georgians to submit identifying information to access protected speech, putting their cybersecurity at serious risk and thwarting their First Amendment rights;
- Barred minors from joining social media without their parents handing over copious private data;
- Created a labyrinth of arbitrary exemptions, favoring some types of speech and speakers over others; and
- Chilled anonymous speech online.
As our case proceeds, we hope to work with Georgia policymakers on meaningful and constitutional solutions to digital challenges.
Read the court’s ruling today here. Find full case resources for NetChoice v. Carr (2025) here.
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.