Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed HB2586, a bill that would have mandated invasive age verification for visitors to sites with "material harmful to minors." FSC led opposition to the bill, and traveled to Arizona multiple times to speak with legislators, journalists, allies and constituents. HB2586 ultimately passed the legislature on a party-line vote, and opposition to the bill came from the ACLU, FIRE, Chamber of Progress, Woodhull Freedom Foundation, SIECUS, ESPLERP and a host of other organizations dedicated to civil liberties, reproductive rights, sex worker rights and LGBTQ+ rights. Read more here.

In collaboration with the ACLU and legal representation, the Free Speech Coalition is actively challenging Texas’s H.B. 1181 in the U.S. Supreme Court, highlighting its unconstitutional burden on adult access to online sexual content. We emphasize that while the law claims to protect minors, it excessively restricts adults’ access to constitutionally-protected speech, requiring invasive age verification. We advocate for the preservation of First Amendment rights and urge the adoption of less restrictive measures, such as filtering software, to safeguard children without compromising adult freedoms. Read more here.

The Free Speech Coalition Board of Directors has chosen Streamate Executive Liz Rek to join the Board, effective immediately. Rek, an industry veteran of over twenty years, was appointed to fill the seat of long-time Board member Reed Lee, who passed in late December. Read more here.

Free Speech Coalition Executive Director Alison Boden testified against AB-3080, an age-verification bill introduced in the California Assembly, and heard on April 16th in the Assembly’s Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection. Despite widespread opposition from groups including Electronic Frontier Foundation, Woodhull Action Fund, Netchoice and an array of sex ed, LGBTQ+, reproductive rights advocates, a motion to pass the bill to the Judiciary committee succeeded. Read more here.

"The governor of Kansas vetoed an anti-LGBTQ+ bill while simultaneously letting a law pass requiring ID to view 'acts of homosexuality.'" Read more on Advocate.

"It’s getting a little more onerous to access online pornography. Within the past few weeks, Kansas, Florida and Idaho became the latest U.S. states to pass policies requiring 'adult' websites to verify visitors’ age before allowing access. Five other states already had similar statutes, and lawmakers have introduced or are considering them in many more." Read more on Scientific American.