United States of America: NetChoice filed lawsuit over alleged unconstitutional restrictions under Mississippi House Bill 1126 on Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act

On 21 July 2025, NetChoice filed a lawsuit over the alleged unconstitutional restrictions under Mississippi House Bill 1126, titled Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act. The lawsuit was filed at the Supreme Court of the United States seeking temporary administrative relief and the vacatur of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s stay of a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of Bill 1126. The lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of the Act as applied to nine member platforms including Dreamwidth, Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, X, and YouTube, arguing it imposes content-based restrictions on fully protected speech, including age-verification requirements, parental consent obligations for minors, and content monitoring mandates targeting specified categories of speech. NetChoice claimed these provisions violate the First Amendment by burdening access to protected expression without satisfying the requirements of strict or intermediate scrutiny. The lawsuit asserted that compliance with the Act would impose irreparable harm through speech suppression and disproportionate regulatory costs and requested restoration of the district court’s preliminary injunction to preserve the status quo pending full appellate review.