State Senate: Republican majority
State House: Republican majority
Governor: Tate Reeves (R)
Attorney General: Lynn Fitch (R)
Summary:
Deep-red Mississippi has considered many speech-related bills as other states, including measures to protect expression on public college campuses, limit social media censorship, and the use of discriminatory nonfinancial criteria by financial institutions. Two recent bills have become law: SB 2557 which limits the use of generative-AI in elections, and HB 1126 which requires websites with content harmful to minors to use age-verification to prevent minors from accessing.
Key Policymakers:
- Sen. Bart Williams [R] and Sen. Willie Simmons [D]
- Rep. Jill Ford [R] and Rep. Fabian Nelson [D]
Legislative Activity:
HB 1267/ SB 2423: To require qualified political advertisements that utilize artificial intelligence to disclose the use of artificial intelligence to the public; to define what is considered a qualified political advertisement and artificial intelligence as used in this section; to clarify what information must be present in an advertisement to satisfy the disclosure requirement; to specify who is not liable for the failure of disclosure of the use of artificial intelligence; to provide civil penalties for failing to disclose the use of artificial intelligence in a qualified political advertisement; to state where an aggrieved party or the attorney general may bring suit against a candidate, committee or other person who fails to disclose the use of artificial intelligence in a qualified political advertisement. Democrat-only bill introduced by Rep. Timaka James-Jones [D] and Sen. Bradford Blackmon [D] in March 2024 but did not progress.
SB 2288: An act to criminalize the unlawful dissemination or publication of an intimate or non intimate image or audio created or altered by digitization where the image or audio is disseminated or published with intent to cause harm to the emotional, financial or physical welfare of another person and the actor knew or reasonably should have known that the person depicted did not consent to such dissemination or publication. Introduced by Sen. Chris Johnson [R] in February 2024 and passed the Senate unanimously in March.
HB 455: The “Stop social media censorship act”; to define certain terms relating to social media websites; to authorize a social media website user to bring a cause of action against a social media website for censoring the website user’s political or religious speech or using an algorithm to disfavor, shadowban or censor the user’s religious speech or political speech; and to authorize certain damages to be awarded in a cause of action against a social media website. Introduced by Rep. Steve Hopkins [R] in February 2023 but did not progress.
HB 1465 (2022): To require a social media platform to publish an acceptable use policy in a location on its website that is distinctly noticeable to and easily accessible by users; to specify the minimum requirements of the acceptable use policy; to require a social media platform to publish an annual transparency report for the preceding twelve-month period as a component of its acceptable use policy; to require a social media platform to provide an easily accessible electronic complaint system on its website; to stipulate the procedures to be followed by a social media platform after removing content from its platform which violates its acceptable use policy. Introduced by Rep. Jansen Owen [R], Rep. Jill Ford [R], and Rep. Dana Underwood McLean [R] in January 2021 but did not progress.
HB 326: The “Forming open and robust university minds (forum) act,” as it relates to freedom of speech on the campuses of state institutions of higher learning; to prohibit a state institution of higher learning from denying a religious, political or ideological student organization a benefit or privilege available to another student organization, or otherwise discriminate against such an organization, based on the expression of the organization. Introduced by Rep. Stacey Hobgood-Wilkes [R] in January 2024 but did not progress.
SB 2118: The Equality in Financial Services Act prohibits a financial institution from discriminating in the provision of financial services to a person or conspiring or coordinating to discriminate in the provision of financial services to a person. Introduced by Sen. Joey Fillingane [R] in January 2024 but did not progress.
SB 2557 (Signed into Law): Prohibits disseminating digitization within 90 days of an election without the consent of the individual depicted and intended to injure a candidate or influence an election, unless a disclosure is included stating that the conduct or speech depicted did not actually occur. Punishment depends on the severity of the intent. Authorizes the attorney general, district attorneys, individuals depicted in the deepfake, candidates who are likely to be injured by the deepfake, or a political party with a nominee on the ballot that is likely to be injured by the deepfake to bring an action. Authorizes a court to order removal of the deepfake from the internet and messaging services. These provisions do not apply to service providers such as internet providers, broadcasting stations, or other website providers and news publications. They also do not apply to satire. Introduced by Sen. Bart Williams [R] and Sen. Willie Simmons [D] in February 2024, passed both chambers nearly unanimously, and signed into law on April 8, 2024.
HB 1126 (Signed into Law): An act to create the “Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act” for the purpose of protecting minor children from online harmful material and access to such material; to require digital service users to register their age; to limit the collection and use of minor users’ personal identifying information; to require digital services providers to develop and implement a strategy to prevent or mitigate certain harms to minors. Introduced by Rep. Jill Ford [R] and Rep. Fabian Nelson [D] in February 2024, passed both chambers unanimously and signed into law on April 30th, 2024.
