"Lawmakers often sell age-verification mandates as a silver bullet for Big Tech's harms, but in practice, these laws do nothing to rein in the tech giants. Instead, they end up crushing smaller platforms that can't absorb the exorbitant costs. Now that Mississippi's mandate has gone into effect, the reality is clear: age verification laws entrench Big Tech's dominance, while pushing smaller communities like Bluesky and Dreamwidth offline altogether."
"That's because, in a chilling early warning sign for the U.S., both social platforms decided to block all users in Mississippi from their services rather than risk hefty fines under the state's oppressive age verification mandate."
"Bluesky was the first platform to make the announcement. In a public blogpost , Bluesky condemned H.B. 1126's broad scope, barriers to innovation, and privacy implications, explaining that the law forces platforms to "make Mississippi Bluesky user hand over sensitive personal information and undergo age checks to access the site-or risk massive fines.""
Mississippi enacted H.B. 1126, an age-verification mandate that requires platforms to verify users' ages or face large fines. The Supreme Court allowed the law to take effect by lifting a prior injunction, even as at least one justice described it as likely unconstitutional. Smaller social platforms such as Bluesky and Dreamwidth have blocked users in Mississippi rather than implement invasive age-check systems. The law imposes high compliance costs and privacy risks, which disproportionately harm smaller services and consolidate advantages for major tech companies. Civil liberties groups have warned that the mandate threatens First Amendment rights and user privacy.
Read at Electronic Frontier Foundation
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