NEW ORLEANS—Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted the State of Mississippi’s request to allow HB 1126, an unconstitutional social media age verification and censorship law, to go into effect in NetChoice v. Fitch.
This I.D.-for-Speech law mandates all Mississippians—adults and minors alike—hand over their sensitive, personal information just to access fully protected speech online, creating a cybersecurity nightmare for families, thwarting parents and violating the First Amendment.
“We are very disappointed in the Fifth Circuit’s decision to let Mississippi’s censorship law go into effect,” said Paul Taske, Co-Director of the NetChoice Litigation Center. “We are considering all available options. NetChoice will continue to fight against this egregious infringement on access to fully protected speech online. Parents–not the government–should determine what is right for their families.”
Read the decision here. Learn more about NetChoice v. Fitch here.
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.
The Core Problems with Mississippi’s I.D.-for-Speech Law:
- 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.