Bluesky is blocking all IP addresses within Mississippi following a US Supreme Court decision that permits the state to enforce strict age verification for social media. The company says Mississippi's verification approach "would fundamentally change" how users access the site and that compliance—requiring identifying and tracking users under 18 and collecting sensitive personal information—exceeds its current resources and infrastructure. Noncompliance could bring fines up to $10,000 per violation. Age verification laws have broadly affected internet use elsewhere, with UK requirements for ID scans and credit-card checks and a similar Texas law upheld by the Supreme Court.
People in Mississippi can no longer use the social media platform Bluesky. The company announced Friday that it will be blocking all IP addresses within Mississippi for the foreseeable future in response to a recent US Supreme Court decision that allows the state to enforce strict age verification for social media platforms. According to Bluesky, Mississippi's approach to verification "would fundamentally change" how users access the site.
Bluesky did not respond to a request for comment. The company says that compliance with Mississippi's law-which would require identifying and tracking all users under 18, in addition to asking every user for sensitive personal information to verify their age-is not possible with the team's current resources and infrastructure. By not complying with the law, Bluesky could face fines of up to $10,000 per violation.
In the UK, users trying to access everything from pornography to social platforms must now submit to ID scans, credit card checks, age-estimation scans, and more to verify they're over the age of 18. The state of Texas has a similar law the US Supreme Court upheld in June, despite concerns from critics over the erosion of free speech and access to information on the open internet.
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