US Supreme Court declines for now to block Mississippi social media age

By Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Thursday to put on hold a Mississippi law requiring that users of social media platforms verify their age and that minors have parental consent in a challenge by a trade group whose members include Meta’s Facebook, Alphabet’s YouTube and Snapchat.

The justices denied a request by NetChoice to block the law while the Washington-based tech industry trade association’s legal challenge to the law, which it argues violates the U.S. Constitution’s protections against government abridgement of free speech, plays out in lower courts.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh in a statement about the court’s order said the Mississippi law was likely unconstitutional, but that NetChoice had not met the high bar to block the measure at this