Becerra

ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR DISCOVERY

Re: Dkt. No.

California enacted a statute restricting IMDb’s ability to publish information on its website about the ages of people in the entertainment industry. Under the First Amendment, the government may only impose this sort of speech restriction if: (i) it serves a compelling purpose; and (ii) there is no reasonable alternative for achieving that purpose in a less speech-restrictive way. In this case, the government says it does not yet have adequate evidence to justify the speech restriction, so it wants IMDb to turn over a wide range of information that the government speculates will help prove its case.

*1101 I.

IMDb has two services. First, it has a website — IMDb.com—which is available to the public and provides information about the entertainment industry. Visitors to this site can read entertainment news, reviews about movies, and biographical information about actors and others in the industry. Second, IMDb has a subscription service called “IMDb Pro.” This is a Linkedln of sorts for the entertainment industry, allowing paid subscribers to post and share their resumes, professional portfolios, and personal information.…