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Washington – The Supreme Court has refused to block a new Mississippi law which requires restrictions on age and consent of parents to social media platforms.
In a brief order Without dissent, the court rejected an emergency request filed by the Netchoice industry group on behalf of nine of its members, including Facebook, X and Youtube.
In a separate concordant opinion, the Brett Kavanaugh judge wrote that Netchoice had, in his opinion, “demonstrated that he is likely to succeed on the merits” when the case reaches a final conclusion but had not shown the need to block the law at an early stadium of the dispute.
The law, promulgated last year, obliges all users under the age of 18 to verify their age and so that minors obtain the consent of parents to access social media sites. It aims to respond to growing concerns concerning the negative impact of social media on young people.
Netchoice argued in court documents that restrictions violate the protection of freedom of expression under the first amendment to the Constitution. The group represented six additional platforms in the case: Dreamwidth, Instagram, Nextdoor, Pinterest, Reddit and Snapchat.
Other states, including California, Georgia and Florida, have adopted similar laws in recent years and have also been disputed, but the Supreme Court has not yet weighed. On a related question, the court in June maintained a law of Texas Seeking to restrict young people’s access to online pornographic content.
The Mississippi law also obliged social media companies to make “reasonable efforts” to ensure that minors are not exposed to harmful content.
Companies could be affected by penalties of $ 10,000 for violating the law.
Netchoice lawyers have declared in court documents that the provisions obliged companies to effectively censor discourse because users who are not willing to verify their age or cannot obtain the approval of the parents will not be able to engage in an otherwise protected discourse.
The Mississippi seeks to “fundamentally modify the way its citizens can access fully protected online discourse”, wrote lawyers.
Defending the measure, the general prosecutor of Mississippi, Lynn Fitch, wrote in his own memory that he “imposes modest tasks on interactive online platforms which are particularly attractive for predators”.
A federal judge had twice judged that the law was probably unconstitutional, but the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals American based in New Orleans declared on July 17 in a brief order that it could come into force.
