Bluesky blocks Mississippi under new age verification law

Bluesky will block access to Mississippi IP addresses in response to a new state law requiring age verification and parental consent for underage users. The decision, outlined in a blog post, will stand until courts decide the fate of the law.

“Mississippi’s approach would fundamentally change how users access Bluesky,” says the post, in ways that rules like the UK’s Online Safety Act (which Bluesky complies with) don’t. The law, HB 1126, “would block everyone from accessing the site — teens and adults — unless they hand over sensitive information, and once they do, the law in Mississippi requires Bluesky to keep track of which users are children.” In the UK, by contrast, users are only blocked from accessing direct messages and sensitive content unless they undergo a verification process