Can a city decide whether your dating profile—or any other content—gets to be on a billboard? The Supreme Court will soon decide. I’m Amy E. Feldman.
Beth Davies is dying of cancer and wants to walk her daughter, Molly, down the aisle before she dies, so she put up a billboard in Times Square to find her daughter a husband. Mohammad Malik likewise put up billboards in the UK, advertising he needs a wife or he’ll have to go through with an arranged marriage.
The subject of billboards isn’t just a hot dating topic, it’s a hot legal topic. The City of Austin allows companies to have digital billboards if they’re on the company’s premises, but forbids off-premises digital billboards. According to a lawsuit, that distinction violates the company’s First Amendment rights, because in order to figure out if it’s on- or off-premises, you have to read the billboard, which means the city decides based on the billboard’s content. The Supreme Court will shortly weigh in, but in the meantime, Molly, meet Mohammad. Mohammad, Molly.
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