IMDb asks court not to enforce law censoring actor's age

IMDb, an online database of information related to films, television programmes and video games, has asked the court to prohibit the enforcement of a new law that bars it from displaying an actor's age on its site if the actor doesn't want it posted.

The law was signed by California's governor Jerry Brown in September last year.

Its goal is to mitigate age discrimination in Hollywood, but since its passing, it has been widely criticised as unconstitutional. IMDb sued California attorney general Kamala Harris in November 2016, arguing that the law chills free speech rather than addressing the root causes of age discrimination, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

In a Thursday motion, attorney John Hueston asked US district judge Vince Chhabria to issue a preliminary injunction prohibiting the enforcement of the law, which took effect January 1, until its legality can be determined.

Currently, under the law, IMDb is required to remove upon request the birth date and age of any entertainment industry professional, including directors and producers, from both IMDb.com and its subscription site IMDbPro.com.

Hueston argued that IMDb is highly likely to succeed on the merits of its claim because the law is not sufficiently narrowed to actually prevent age discrimination, hollywoodreporter.com said.

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