NetChoice asked a federal court on Monday to consider blocking a Utah age-verification law due to its similarity to a Mississippi age-verification law that was preliminarily enjoined.
NetChoice Lawsuits
NetChoice lawsuits involve a series of high-profile legal challenges brought by the tech industry trade group NetChoice against state laws regulating online content moderation and user data practices. The group has sued states including Texas and Florida, arguing that their social media laws violate the First Amendment and conflict with federal protections for online platforms. These cases, now before federal appeals courts and potentially the U.S. Supreme Court, could set sweeping precedents for how states can govern digital platforms’ handling of speech, privacy, and user data.
NetChoice filed an additional lawsuit against Arkansas late Friday as it attempted to block a pair of measures that would amend the state’s 2023 Social Media Safety Act, which a court ruled unconstitutional in late March following a NetChoice challenge (see 2504010044).
In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Texas law requiring age verification for access to porn sites (see 2506270015 and 2501130012). The majority in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton sided with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) in support of HB-1181, which the adult industry trade association Free Speech Coalition said violates the First Amendment (see 2409170012).
A district court on Thursday granted a preliminary injunction against a 2024 Georgia law aimed at protecting kids by requiring age verification and parental consent for minors to create social media accounts. However, Georgia's attorney general signaled that the state will continue to fight for the law.
A federal judge Wednesday denied Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch's request for a stay of an injunction blocking a social media age-verification law. Fitch (R) asked for the injunction to be lifted while an appeal of case 24-00170 was pending at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see 2506200009).
As some regulators expand their focus on protecting children online to include teens, industry is complying with new laws while seeking workarounds and/or challenging regulation in courts, panelists said during a Morrison Foerster webinar Monday. The struggle will continue for a while, they added.
Trade association NetChoice asked a court Friday to consider blocking a Utah age-verification law because of its similarity to a Florida measure that was preliminarily enjoined.
Following the district court preliminarily enjoining a Mississippi social media age-verification law for the second time Wednesday, Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) appealed the decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The U.S. District Court for Southern Mississippi ruled that the law was too broad to survive a First Amendment challenge, though the AG's office said it would fight for the “commonsense” law (see 2506180051).
A federal court on Wednesday declined to block a Tennessee law requiring that social media companies verify the age of account holders and gain parental consent from users younger than 18 before they can open accounts.
A district court preliminarily enjoined a Mississippi social media age-verification law for the second time Wednesday, ruling it's too broad to survive a First Amendment challenge. The U.S. District Court for Southern Mississippi previously enjoined the same law, HB-1126, in July 2024 (see 2407010062).