The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is mounting a strong First Amendment defense in Forsyth v. MPAA, a lawsuit to force the industry to change ratings for films involving tobacco use to R. The plaintiffs say that children viewing tobacco imagery will be encouraged to use tobacco resulting in the deaths of millions. The defendants are fighting the federal suit with an anti-SLAPP motion contending that the ratings are a form of speech. (The Hollywood Reporter, September 16, 2016, by Eriq Gardner)
Mitch Stolz, Electronic Frontier Foundation, September 19, 2016, observes that the MPAA is right in opposing Forsyth on the grounds that any special interest could demand that the industry censor any activity that is unhealthy including gambling, alcohol use, consumption of junk food, etc. “But,” writes Stolz, “there’s an irony to MPAA’s position in this lawsuit, because at the same time it fights to protect the ratings board against co-opting by special interests, the trade association is also trying to co-opt other powerful private gatekeepers of speech into advancing MPAA’s own special interest: copyright enforcement. Internet intermediaries like webhosts, domain name registrars, search engines, and third-party platforms are, like MPAA’s ratings board, private organizations that stand between speakers and their audiences. Their roles give them power to suppress speech, by making it harder for audiences to access, or even making entire sites disappear from the Internet.”