COLUMBIA, S.C.—Last week, NetChoice filed a lawsuit challenging South Carolina’s new Speech Code. These Orwellian restrictions on free speech, enacted on Thursday, force digital services either to act as government censors or to implement privacy-invasive age verification requirements that put South Carolinians at risk.
We’ve actually seen how rules like this turn out for free speech online: Just last week, the House Judiciary Committee exposed how similar laws in Europe and the U.K. are being used to block, silence and stifle digital speech. We must not import digital censorship to America.
“South Carolina’s speech code is a disaster. It imposes a sweeping censorship regime fundamentally aimed at controlling how speech is presented, what speech users can see, and places new roadblocks in the way of accessing that speech,” said Paul Taske, Co-Director of the NetChoice Litigation Center.
“This law looks like it was ripped from Europe’s playbook. But South Carolina’s speech code must contend with the First Amendment, and in that matchup, the First Amendment will win every time.”
Taske continued: “Beyond the First Amendment problems plaguing this law, there are serious due process problems by making the law effective immediately. By requiring drastic, sweeping changes without giving companies any time to even attempt to comply, websites will be forced to either stop serving South Carolina or face steep penalties as they determine whether and how to continue serving their users with valuable, lawful speech. Such impossible choices are an affront to the rule of law. We are confident the court will agree.”
Online safety for young people is a critical goal, but it must be pursued through lawful means, without violating protected speech rights or creating new cybersecurity vulnerabilities for the very people it claims to protect. An unconstitutional law protects no one.
NetChoice v. Wilson was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.
The South Carolina Speech Code presents websites with an impossible choice: either proactively censor broad categories of protected speech or force users to submit sensitive personal information, which could result in their private documents being compromised.
We are confident the courts will halt South Carolina’s Speech Code. It mirrors a nearly identical speech code that has been repeatedly stopped in California, and it is similar to other laws we’ve seen blocked in Arkansas, Utah, Louisiana, Georgia and Ohio.
Key Takeaways of NetChoice v. Wilson:
- This violates First Amendment rights and will result in the vast censorship of protected speech online. South Carolina’s unconstitutional Speech Code puts the government in charge of deciding what information and ideas all South Carolinians are “allowed” to access, conscripting websites to act as digital speech police.
- The law would threaten ALL South Carolinians’ cybersecurity. The South Carolina Speech Code basically mandates that digital services either impose sweeping speech restrictions and conduct rigorous policing of speech online or conduct age verification to properly comply with the law. If companies implicitly need to conduct age verification, this means they would be forced to collect sensitive data and documentation from all users—regardless of age. Unfortunately, young South Carolinians would be under the greatest threat as minors’ data is the number one target for identity thieves and digital predators.
- Big government is trying to take over digital parenting under South Carolina’s Speech Code. By requiring platforms to act as roving censors, conduct massive age verification, or face bureaucrats’ wrath, South Carolina’s government is taking away the freedom and authority of parents to determine what’s best for them and their family’s digital presence.
- Courts have repeatedly stopped a nearly identical speech code in California and similar laws in Texas, Arkansas, Utah, Louisiana, Georgia and Ohio. South Carolina’s law is no different, and we’re confident the courts will block it.
Read the complaint here.
Learn more about our new case against the South Carolina Speech Code, NetChoice v. Wilson, here.
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.