Supreme Court allows Mississippi’s social media verification mandate

Hold onto your smartphones, folks — the Supreme Court just gave Mississippi the green light to enforce a controversial social media law that’s got Big Tech sweating.

In a nutshell, the court declined to halt a Mississippi statute requiring social media giants to verify users’ ages and secure parental consent for minors, despite a fierce legal challenge from industry group NetChoice, as The Hill reports.

This saga kicked off with Mississippi’s 2024 law, a measure aimed at protecting kids online by mandating age checks and parental approval before minors can scroll through platforms like Meta, X, or YouTube.

Mississippi law targets online safety concerns

The state argues this is a common-sense shield against predators, imposing what they call “modest duties” on tech companies to keep harmful content away from young eyes.

Noncompliance? That’ll cost platforms a hefty $10,000 fine, a penalty that’s got NetChoice crying foul over what they see as an overreach on free speech.

“NetChoice satisfies none of the vacatur criteria,” Mississippi shot back in defense, dismissing the group’s plea for Supreme Court intervention as lacking merit.

Supreme Court sidesteps emergency block requests

Well, the justices didn’t buy NetChoice’s urgent appeal to reinstate a lower court’s protective order, letting the law stand — for now.

No explanation, no vote count — just the standard Supreme Court silence on emergency rulings, leaving us to speculate on the behind-the-scenes debate.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, though, dropped a solo opinion hinting that NetChoice might have a winning First Amendment argument down the road, even as he sided against them this round.

Kavanaugh hints at Constitutional flaws

“In short, the Mississippi law is likely unconstitutional,” Kavanaugh wrote, throwing a bone to free speech advocates while still upholding the denial of immediate relief.

“Nonetheless, the balance of harms doesn’t favor NetChoice right now,” he added, a polite way of saying, ‘nice try, but not yet.’

Meanwhile, NetChoice pointed fingers at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit for reversing a district judge’s ruling without so much as a footnote of reasoning.

NetChoice slams appeals court silence

“Neither NetChoice nor this Court can know why the Fifth Circuit believed this law passes muster,” the group argued, frustrated by the lack of clarity.

They’ve got a point — when even a federal appeals court won’t show its homework, it’s hard not to wonder if this is more about politics than principle.

Still, Mississippi’s law marches on, backed by the state’s claim to protect kids, even as tech groups and free speech advocates warn it could chill online expression for everyone, not just minors. Friend-of-the-court briefs from these groups argue the mandate burdens adults too, while a child protection outfit countered that the law doesn’t even achieve its stated goal. Turns out, good intentions don’t always equal good policy.