Mississippi Censorship, ID for the Internet Law Blocked AGAIN in NetChoice v. Fitch

GULFPORT, Miss.—Today, a court again halted Mississippi’s unconstitutional social media age verification and censorship law from going into effect while our case, NetChoice v. Fitch, moves through the legal system. 

Today’s victory comes after the State appealed its first loss to the Fifth Circuit. 

“The First Amendment proudly protects all Americans’ speech, expression and thought from government intrusion—without compromise. NetChoice is thankful the court yet again blocked Mississippi’s law from censoring speech, limiting access to lawful information and undermining user security online as our case proceeds,” said Paul Taske, NetChoice Associate Director of Litigation. 

Federal courts are consistently stopping these kinds of censorship regimes because they so blatantly violate Americans’ protected freedoms. NetChoice has permanently blocked similar laws in Arkansas and Ohio and halted others as our cases proceed in Florida, Texas, Utah and California. 

Let’s catch up on the problems with Mississippi’s ID-for-the-Internet Law:

1. HB 1126 violates the First Amendment because it conditions Mississippians’ access to vast amounts of protected speech on handing over their sensitive, personal data. 
2. 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.
3. 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.  
4. 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. 

Read the court’s ruling today granting NetChoice’s request for a preliminary injunction here. Learn more about NetChoice v. Fitch here. 

Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.