NetChoice is fighting to stop the South Carolina Speech Code, an attempt by the government to censor speech online and create unlawful barriers to protected speech that would jeopardize all South Carolinians’ cybersecurity and thwart parents.
Read the complaint, filed February 9, 2026, here.
The South Carolina Speech Code puts the government in charge of deciding what information and ideas all South Carolinians are “allowed” to access online, conscripting websites to act as digital speech police and violating the First Amendment. It will apply to everyone, not just kids—so adults will also lose access to lawful speech, coddling all users of the internet.
We’ve actually seen how rules like this turn out for free speech online. The U.S. House Judiciary Committee recently exposed how similar laws in Europe and the U.K. are being used to block, silence and stifle digital speech. We cannot import digital censorship to America.
It will also be a cybersecurity disaster for families. If companies refuse to coddle their users and censor speech, they will be effectively mandated to verify the identities and ages of all South Carolinians. This means that online services will need to collect massive amounts of documentation from everyone—creating a honeypot of data that will be a prime target for cybercriminals and predators. The Identity Theft Resource Center released a report in 2025 showing that “more than 1.7 billion notices were sent to people in 2024 that their data had been exposed in an incident.” And children are the number one targets for identity theft, with 25% expected to experience it before they turn 18.
Parents and guardians are best suited to determine their families’ online presence, but the South Carolina Speech Code takes away that freedom and permits the state to function as parents. Additionally, young people without parents or guardians, or in complicated family situations, could be denied access to vital online information.
Parents need real solutions to help their kids have a positive and safe experience online. The South Carolina Speech Code fails them. NetChoice outlines many different lawful solutions to online safety in the NetChoice Digital Safety Shield for America.
Our Team
Paul Taske
Court Filings
NetChoice’s Complaint, filed on February 9, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina
NetChoice filed its motion for preliminary injunction on March 9, 2026.