Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch waves to the crowd at a Trump for President rally in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Fitch was named a defendant in a lawsuit filed Friday, June 7, 2024, in federal court over a new Mississippi law requiring users of websites and other digital services to register their age. The suit by the tech industry group NetChoice contends the law will unconstitutionally limit access to online speech for minors and adults.
The Mississippi law “mandates that minors and adults alike verify their ages — which may include handing over personal information or identification that many are unwilling or unable to provide — as a precondition to access and engage in protected speech,” the lawsuit says. “Such requirements abridge the freedom of speech and thus violate the First Amendment.”
“Furthermore, the broad, subjective, and vague categories of speech that the Act requires websites to monitor and censor could reach everything from classic literature, such as ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘The Bell Jar,’ to modern media like pop songs by Taylor Swift,” the lawsuit says.