EFF to Fifth Circuit: Age Verification Laws Will Hurt More Than They Help

EFF, along with the ACLU and the ACLU of Mississippi, filed an amicus brief on Thursday asking a federal appellate court to continue to block Mississippi’s HB 1126—a bill that imposes age verification mandates on social media services across the internet.

Our friend-of-the-court brief, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, argues that HB 1126 is “an extraordinary censorship law that violates all internet users’ First Amendment rights to speak and to access protected speech” online.

HB 1126 forces social media sites to verify the age of every user and requires minors to get explicit parental consent before accessing online spaces. It also pressures them to monitor and censor content  on broad, vaguely defined topics—many of which involve constitutionally protected speech. These sweeping provisions create significant barriers to the free and open internet and “force adults and minors alike to sacrifice anonymity, privacy, and security to engage in protected online expression.” A federal district court already prevented HB 1126 from going into effect, ruling that it likely violated the First Amendment.

Blocking Minors from Vital Online Spaces

At the heart of our opposition to HB 1126 is its dangerous impact on young people’s free expression. Minors enjoy the same First Amendment right as adults to access and engage in protected speech online.

“No legal authority permits lawmakers to burden adults’ access to political, religious, educational, and artistic speech with restrictive age-verification regimes out of a concern for what minors might see. Nor is there any legal authority that permits lawmakers to block minors categorically from engaging in protected expression on general purpose internet sites like those regulated by HB 1126.”

Social media sites are not just entertainment hubs; they are diverse and important spaces where minors can explore their identities—whether by creating and sharing art, practicing religion, or engaging in politics. As our brief explains, minors’ access to these online spaces “is essential to their growth into productive members of adult society because it helps them develop their own ideas, learn to express themselves, and engage productively with others in our democratic public sphere.” 

Social media also “enables individuals whose voices would otherwise not be heard to make vital and even lifesaving connections with one another, and to share their unique perspectives more widely.” LGBTQ+ youth, for example, turn to social media for community, exploration, and support, while others find help in forums that discuss mental health, disability, eating disorders, or domestic violence.

HB 1126’s age-verification regime places unnecessary barriers between young people and these crucial resources. The law compels platforms to broadly restrict minors’ access to a vague list of topics—the majority of which concern constitutionally protected speech—that Mississippi deems “harmful” for minors.

First Amendment Rights: Protection for All

The impact of HB 1126 is not limited to minors—it also places unnecessary and unconstitutional restrictions on adults’ speech. The law requires all users to verify their age before accessing social media, which could entirely block access for the millions of U.S. adults who lack government-issued ID. Should a person who takes public transit every day need to get a driver’s license just to get online? Would you want everything you do online to be linked to your government-issued ID?

HB 1126 also strips away users’ protected right to online anonymity, leaving them vulnerable to exposure and harassment and chilling them from speaking freely on soc