Huge news! The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit just ruled in favor of PETA and our coalition partners, striking down North Carolina’s Property Protection Act as applied to PETA. Given how vital undercover investigations are to our work to reveal and end the suffering of pigs, chickens, cows, and other farmed animals, this is a major victory for investigators and whistleblowers.

BIG win for undercover investigations out of the 4th Circuit today in PETA v. North Carolina Farm Bureau! Splitting 2-1, the court holds North Carolina's Ag Gag law is unconstitutional as to undercover investigations. https://t.co/b7kF3jwX2m

— Matthew Strugar (@MatthewStrugar) February 23, 2023

The act, otherwise known as the “Anti-Sunshine Law,” was a pernicious law that protected property in name alone—it was designed to stifle and punish the free speech of whistleblowers who try to investigate agricultural businesses. Many ag-gag laws like the Anti-Sunshine Law have been established over the past few decades to create a chilling effect on investigators, but they only serve to keep Americans from knowing vital information about how their food is produced.

This ruling upheld that undercover investigative work is protected by the First Amendment and supports much-needed accountability across the agriculture industry in North Carolina. It follows a wave of successful ag-gag challenges, and we hope it will help lead to more being struck down across the nation.

Updated Ag-Gag Scorecard after today's win:
Utah – (knocked down in full)
Kansas –
Wyoming –
North Carolina -
Idaho – (knocked down in part)
Iowa's 1st – (knocked down in part, remainder still pending)
Iowa's 2nd – (knocked down, appeal pending)

— Matthew Strugar (@MatthewStrugar) February 23, 2023

North Carolina is home to several agricultural businesses that supply much of the U.S. These include Smithfield’s Tar Heel facility—the world’s largest pig slaughterhouse—where government investigators found appalling conditions in 2022. If public regulators operating under full transparency were able to find such horrors while employees were doubtless on their best behavior, just imagine what undercover investigators might find there and at similar operations.

We’re thrilled about this affirmation of free speech. If knowing what goes on behind closed doors in North Carolina’s agricultural industry really would harm its profits—and we have a hunch it might, given the documented human toll of factory farms in the state—then it better clean up its act.

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