NetChoice sued Mississippi over its HB 1126 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi to keep online communications and speech safe and free, as well as to ensure parents—not big government—are in the driver’s seat of their families.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit lifted NetChoice’s preliminary injunction in an unreasoned, one-line order on July 17, 2025. NetChoice filed an emergency application to the U.S. Supreme Court on July 21, 2025, urging the justices to reinstate our preliminary injunction against this I.D.-for-Speech law.
The U.S. Supreme Court unfortunately denied NetChoice’s emergency application on August 14, 2025, but NetChoice remains confident we will succeed at ultimately striking down Mississippi’s law. As Justice Kavanaugh writes in his concurrence:
“To be clear, NetChoice has, in my view, demonstrated that it is likely to succeed on the merits—namely, that enforcement of the Mississippi law would likely violate its members’ First Amendment rights under this Court’s precedents…In short, under this Court’s case law as it currently stands, the Mississippi law is likely unconstitutional.”
While well-intentioned, HB 1126 is an unconstitutional overreach into citizens’ rights that courts will likely block. As NetChoice has seen in other states, mandating age verification and parental consent for digital services violates privacy and stifles the free exchange of ideas. Mississippi requires websites to block broad protected speech categories, forcing online businesses to censor speech broadly with vague, unclear compliance standards.
Further, by forcing all websites to identify users, every digital service in Mississippi will need to collect more data and information on their users, including children.
This law also contains a unique provision with broad content moderation parameters that may result in the censorship of vast amounts of speech online. If the law goes into effect, some examples could include: The U.S. Declaration of Independence, Sherlock Holmes, The Goonies, the movie series starring Nicholas Cage, National Treasure, Taylor Swift’s new album and much more.
Parents and guardians, not politicians, should be in charge of their children’s online experience.
Read NetChoice’s initial complaint, filed June 7, 2024, here.
Our Team
Chris Marchese – Co-Director of the NetChoice Litigation Center
Paul Taske – Co-Director of the NetChoice Litigation Center
NetChoice Complaint, filed June 7, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.
NetChoice filed its First Amended Complaint on May 2, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.
On July 1, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi granted NetChoice a preliminary injunction against HB 1126.
NetChoice Motion for a Preliminary Injunction, filed June 7, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.
Mississippi filed its Brief in Opposition to NetChoice’s Motion for a Preliminary Injunction on June 18, 2024
NetChoice filed its Reply Brief supporting the Motion for Preliminary Injunction on June 21, 2024.
In July 2024, Mississippi appealed the District Court’s ruling granting NetChoice a preliminary injunction against HB 1126 to the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
On August 27, 2024, Mississippi filed its opening brief.
On September 26, 2024, NetChoice filed a brief opposing Mississippi’s appeal.
On October 17, 2024, Mississippi filed its reply brief.
On April 17, 2025, the Fifth Circuit issued a decision vacating the preliminary injunction and remanding the case to the district court to apply the facial standard.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi again granted NetChoice a preliminary injunction on June 18, 2025.
NetChoice filed a renewed motion for preliminary injunction and motion for temporary restraining order on May 5, 2025.
- Memo supporting motion.
Mississippi filed its opposition to the renewed preliminary injunction motion on May 19, 2025.
NetChoice filed its reply brief on on May 23, 2025.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted Mississippi’s request to stay NetChoice’s preliminary injunction on July 17, 2025.
The State of Mississippi again appealed NetChoice’s preliminary injunction from the U.S. District Court.
- On September 2, 2025, the AG filed her opening brief.
- On October 3, 2025, NetChoice filed its opposition brief.
The U.S. Supreme Court unfortunately denied NetChoice’s emergency application on August 14, 2025, but NetChoice remains confident we will succeed at ultimately striking down Mississippi’s law.
NetChoice filed an emergency application to the U.S. Supreme Court on July 21, 2025, urging the justices to reinstate our preliminary injunction.