Supreme Court allows social media age check law

An age-verification login screen is seen on a mobile device in this illustration photo in Warsaw, Poland on 31 Poland, 2022. Digital rights groups are urging the federal government to rule out requiring identification documents as part of a proposed online age-verification system. Rights groups are warning it could create a honeypot of peoples personal information and pornography-viewing habits. — NetChoice argued that Mississippi's law 'unconstitutionally restricts the free expression of users of all ages'

(Image credit: STR / NurPhoto / Getty Images)

What happened

The Supreme Court Thursday rejected an emergency appeal to pause Mississippi's controversial social media age verification law. There were no dissents noted in the brief, unsigned opinion.

NetChoice, the tech industry group that filed the appeal, argued that Mississippi's law "threatens privacy rights and unconstitutionally restricts the free expression of users of all ages," not just those under 18, said The Associated Press. A federal judge had agreed and blocked the law from taking effect for major social media platforms, but a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals paused that order in a "one-sentence ruling" in July, "without explaining its reasoning," Reuters said.

Mississippi's law is "far broader" than a Texas age-verification statute for online pornography that the Supreme Court upheld in June, said NPR. Unlike the Texas legislation, Mississippi "requires all users to verify their ages" for access to "common social media sites," not just adult material. Justice Brett Kavanaugh said in a concurring statement that NetChoice had convinced him its challenge was "likely to succeed" on First Amendment grounds but failed to demonstrate that the "balance of harms and equities favors it at this time."

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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.