- Trade association NetChoice claims the “Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act” violates citizens’ constitutionally protected rights. AG Fitch argues that platforms should make ‘commercially reasonable’ efforts to protect minors.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi granted a preliminary injunction in July in the case challenging the new law known as the “Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act.”
READ MORE: Injunction halts Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act from taking effect
Now, Attorney General Lynn Fitch has announced that she has filed a brief in the Fifth Circuit of Appeals urging the Court to vacate the preliminary injunction.
The case stems from trade association NetChoice’s challenge to a new Mississippi law that claims the legislation violates citizens’ constitutionally protected rights, endangers their online privacy and security, and thwarts their rights to make decisions for their family as they deem appropriate.
NetChoice’s members include Amazon, Google (owner of YouTube), Snap Inc. (the parent company of SnapChat), Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram), Netflix, X, and other prominent online platforms.
Mississippi lawmakers passed the “Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act” this year in unanimous bipartisan votes in both chambers. As previously reported, the law requires social media platforms to make reasonable efforts to prevent or mitigate children’s exposure to potentially harmful content while using the platforms.
Governor Tate Reeves (R) signed the bill into law in late April, and it was set to take effect July 1.
The Attorney General’s appeal states that the law requires “what any responsible covered platform would already do: make ‘commercially reasonable’ efforts to protect minors—not perfect, state-of-the-art, cost-prohibitive, or even effective efforts, but efforts reflecting a bare minimum of reasonable care in light of the platform’s resources.'”
Attorney General Fitch said in a statement on Friday that she will continue to fight for this commonsense law “because our children’s mental health, physical security, and innocence should not take a back seat to Big Tech profits.”
“These platforms pose a serious risk to our children and their futures depend on our willingness to protect them in this digital era,” Fitch added.
In granting the preliminary injunction in July, Judge Halil Suleyman Ozerden wrote that NetChoice’s challenge has “carried its burden of showing a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of it claim.”
“In sum, because the Court finds that Plaintiff NetChoice, LLC has carried its burden of showing a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of its claim that the Act is unconstitutional under a First Amendment facial challenge and, alternatively, a Fourteenth Amendment vagueness challenge, it will grant the Motion for a Preliminary Injunction without requiring security,” wrote Judge Ozerden.
State Rep. Jill Ford (R) authored the law in response to the death of 16-year-old Walker Montgomery of Starkville after someone he met online asked for money. When Montgomery said no, the online predator threatened to release a sexually explicit video of him. After continued pressure by the predator, Montgomery took his own life. Following an investigation, it was revealed that the individuals preying on the teen were overseas. Other instances of predatory activity on minors in the area were also reported.
Frank Corder
