California Law That Forced IMDb to Remove Actors' Ages If Asked Is Ruled Unconstitutional 

Back in 2016 a new California law went into effect which required the site IMDb to remove actors’ ages on the site if requested. IMDb has been fighting the law since then and it was finally ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge on Tuesday.

Just two months after the law went into effect, IMDb filed a federal lawsuit against then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris trying to stop the enforcement of the law.US District Court Judge Vince Chhabria then put a pause on the law going into effect and now that same judge has ruled it unconstitutional. He also further argued that restricting information on IMDb is not the solution to age or sex discrimination in Hollywood.

“The defendants…[don’t] explain how a law preventing one company from posting age-related information on one website could discourage the entertainment industry from continuing to objectify and devalue women,” the judge argued. “If the government is going to attempt to restrict speech, it should at least develop a clearer understanding of the problem it’s trying to solve.”

The Writers Guild of America pressured IMDb to remove actors’ ages since 2010 and some, like actress Huong Hoang, actually sued the website for revealing her age (she eventually lost the suit.) Actors argued that listing ages on IMDb could add to problems of age discrimination in Hollywood and keeping them from gaining jobs. IMDb argued that the law was over-reaching censorship which unfairly targeted their site.