US Supreme Court urged to block Mississippi law restricting children's social media use

By Mike Scarcella

July 21 (Reuters) - An internet trade association whose members include Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to block a Mississippi law that imposes age-verification and parental-consent requirements on social media sites.

Washington, D.C.-based NetChoice said in its filing that a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel improperly allowed the Mississippi law to take effect even though a judge had found the regulations likely violate constitutional free speech protections.

The law requires minors to obtain parental consent to open accounts at certain kinds of digital service providers, and says regulated platforms must make “commercially reasonable” efforts to verify users' ages. The state can pursue civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation as well as criminal penalties under Mississippi's deceptive trade practices law.

NetChoice’s emergency filing provides the first opportunity for the Supreme Court to consider a social media age-verification law.

“Just as the government can’t force you to provide identification to read a newspaper, the same holds true when that news is available online," Paul Taske, co-director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, said in a statement.

The Mississippi attorney general's office in a statement welcomed the 5th Circuit's order permitting the law to take effect and said it looked forward to the appellate court's full consideration of the case.

Courts in Florida, Texas and five other states have preliminarily or permanently blocked similar measures, NetChoice said in its filing. Only Mississippi has been allowed to implement its rules.

NetChoice, which sued to block the Mississippi law in 2024, said in Monday's Supreme Court filing that its members' social media platforms have already adopted extensive policies to moderate content for minors and provide parental controls.

States increasingly have sought ways to mitigate the potentially harmful effects of social media on young people.

Some big technology companies are separately battling lawsuits from U.S. states, school districts and individual users alleging social platforms have fueled mental health problems. The companies have denied any wrongdoing.

U.S. District Judge Halil Suleyman Ozerden in Gulfport, Mississippi, last year blocked Mississippi from enforcing the restrictions on some NetChoice members.

Ozerden issued a second order in June pausing the rules against those members, including Meta and its Instagram and Facebook platforms, Snapchat and YouTube.

A Fifth Circuit appeals panel last week issued a one-sentence ruling that paused the lower court order, without explaining its reasoning.

The case is NetChoice v. Fitch, U.S. Supreme Court, not yet assigned.

For applicant: Scott Keller of Lehotsky Keller Cohn

For respondent: No appearance yet

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