NetChoice v. Fitch (Mississippi)

Chris Marchese

Litigation Center Director

Key Takeaways:

State lawmakers in Mississippi have unfortunately followed the path of some other states in violating their citizens’ constitutionally-protected rights, endangering their online privacy and security, and thwarting their rights to parent their individual households as they deem appropriate. NetChoice is suing the state to keep online communication safe and free and to ensure parents—not big government—are in the driver's seat of their families. On July 1, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi granted NetChoice a preliminary injunction.

What's At Stake

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 new album, and much more.

Case Brief

Case Status: Mississippi appealed NetChoice's injunction to the Fifth Circuit

Latest Update: September 26, 2024

Attorneys:

Steve Lehotsky
Scott Keller
Jeremy Evan Maltz
Jared Magnuson
Josh Morrow

Firms:
Lehotsky Keller Cohn

Timeline

June 7, 2024
NetChoice files complaint and request for preliminary injunction against HB1126
July 1, 2024
District Court grants NetChoice's request for preliminary injunction
September 26, 2024
NetChoice files response brief to the State's appeal to the 5th Circuit

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.

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 – Director of Litigation

Link to bio

Paul Taske – Associate Director of Litigation

Link to Bio

NetChoice Complaint, filed June 7, 2024, 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.

Memorandum

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 September 26, 2024, NetChoice filed a brief opposing Mississippi’s appeal.