Mississippi's age assurance law is causing challenges for social media platforms. Here's how Bluesky and Mastodon are approaching things.
#Technology#Tech#SocialMedia#SocialMediaPlatforms#OpenSocial#Mississippi#Decentralization#AgeAssuranceLaws
Mississippi's age assurance law is causing challenges for social media platforms. Here's how Bluesky and Mastodon are approaching things.
#Technology#Tech#SocialMedia#SocialMediaPlatforms#OpenSocial#Mississippi#Decentralization#AgeAssuranceLaws
If you run an online service, why do you have to follow laws in other jurisdictions to prevent people from those jurisdictions from accessing your service?
Their government should only be able to regulate the people and businesses of their jurisdiction. Their government should have to try to force their local ISPs to prevent access to whatever "bad content" is now deemed illegal to access.
You know, like other dictatorships.
I'm a bit confused about some of the discourse around Bluesky having to comply with Mississippi laws.
Does it really matter to what degree they're "truly" decentralized?
Forums and fediverse servers have shut down/geo-blocked people in UK in response to UK's Online Safety Act.
https://onlinesafetyact.co.uk/in_memoriam/
I figured it's mostly fediverse servers being too small that helps them avoid having to comply. Anyone talking about how this affects mastodon.social?
#AgeVerification#Mississippi#MississippiAgeVerification #bluesky #fediverse
Just a special bonus post to let you know that accounts in Mississippi USA are working just fine on the Fediverse. There are no corporate overlords that can block them.
For example you could follow these:
➡️ @msfreepress - Non-profit local news site based in Mississippi, women-run
➡️ @thedeltareview - Blog about culture and lifestyle in Mississippi and the Southeastern USA
➡️ @MSTODAYnews - Non-profit news organisation covering Mississippi
are you being nagged by a bit of joy and happiness? no problems, igotchufam: here’s the Census.gov page for #Mississippi
Mississippi - Census Bureau Profile - https://data.census.gov/profile/Mississippi?g=040XX00US28
Just a special bonus post to let you know that accounts in Mississippi USA are working just fine on the Fediverse. There are no corporate overlords that can block them.
For example you could follow these:
➡️ @msfreepress - Non-profit local news site based in Mississippi, women-run
➡️ @thedeltareview - Blog about culture and lifestyle in Mississippi and the Southeastern USA
➡️ @MSTODAYnews - Non-profit news organisation covering Mississippi
There's a lot of discussion of Mississippi's age verification law for social media today, after Bluesky announced they're blocking the state.
Note that Mississippi's requirements go far beyond the Online Safety Act, MIssissippi's law, HB 1126, requires age verification for all users, and parental consent for users under 18., no matter what the content of the site is. Last week the US Supreme Court declined to block the law while it's being challenged in the courts, even though Kavanaugh described it as "likely unconstitutional".
The law clearly should be found unconstitutional - the amicus brief from @CenDemTech, @eff et al discusses why. Still, with the current Supreme Court, who knows; they just the (somewhat narrower) Texas age verification law also should have been found unconstitutional, but SCOTUS said it was okay. So who knows. And of course this is exactly the kind of chilling effect they're aiming for, which is why it's so disappointing that SCOTUS didn't block its enforcement until the case is heard.
As far as I know there isn't any guidance yet for people running fedi instances (or message boards, which are also covered). If you're running a US-based fedi instance, it's might well be worth talking to your lawyer about this. Here's the legislation, and here's the langauge from Section 4 (1)
"A digital service provider may not enter into an agreement with a person to create an account with a digital service unless the person has registered the person's age with the digital service provider. A digital service provider shall make commercially reasonable efforts to verify the age of the person creating an account with a level of certainty appropriate to the risks that arise from the information management practices of the digital service provider."
There's a lot of discussion of Mississippi's age verification law for social media today, after Bluesky announced they're blocking the state.
Note that Mississippi's requirements go far beyond the Online Safety Act, MIssissippi's law, HB 1126, requires age verification for all users, and parental consent for users under 18., no matter what the content of the site is. Last week the US Supreme Court declined to block the law while it's being challenged in the courts, even though Kavanaugh described it as "likely unconstitutional".
The law clearly should be found unconstitutional - the amicus brief from @CenDemTech, @eff et al discusses why. Still, with the current Supreme Court, who knows; they just the (somewhat narrower) Texas age verification law also should have been found unconstitutional, but SCOTUS said it was okay. So who knows. And of course this is exactly the kind of chilling effect they're aiming for, which is why it's so disappointing that SCOTUS didn't block its enforcement until the case is heard.
As far as I know there isn't any guidance yet for people running fedi instances (or message boards, which are also covered). If you're running a US-based fedi instance, it's might well be worth talking to your lawyer about this. Here's the legislation, and here's the langauge from Section 4 (1)
"A digital service provider may not enter into an agreement with a person to create an account with a digital service unless the person has registered the person's age with the digital service provider. A digital service provider shall make commercially reasonable efforts to verify the age of the person creating an account with a level of certainty appropriate to the risks that arise from the information management practices of the digital service provider."
The news editor of Mississippi Free Press, a nonprofit, non-partisan newsroom, has posted on Bluesky that it is their No. 1 platform after they abandoned X. Now, they may no longer be able to post there, and their Mississippi-based audience will not be able to see their stories. Follow them in the fediverse here:
Subscribe to their newsletter here:
https://mississippifreepress.us4.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=4fb0ed9b8af4d89c4b4bb98b5&id=d77e21d3bd
Donate money here:
The news editor of Mississippi Free Press, a nonprofit, non-partisan newsroom, has posted on Bluesky that it is their No. 1 platform after they abandoned X. Now, they may no longer be able to post there, and their Mississippi-based audience will not be able to see their stories. Follow them in the fediverse here:
Subscribe to their newsletter here:
https://mississippifreepress.us4.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=4fb0ed9b8af4d89c4b4bb98b5&id=d77e21d3bd
Donate money here:
Bluesky is blocking its service in Mississippi over a new age-assurance law. In order to comply with HB 1126, which requires platforms to introduce age verification for all users, the company would have to make substantial technical changes. Bluesky also had questions about the law's scope and privacy implications. Here's more from @Sarahp of @Techcrunch.
#Technology#Tech#SocialMedia#AgeAssuranceLaws#Bluesky#ATProto#Mississippi
#law#DC#WashingtonDC#CivilRights#MilitaryState #authoritarianism #autocracy #tyranny#Gestapo #coup#TrumpCoup2
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/08/19/trump-dc-national-guard-republican-states/
#law#DC#WashingtonDC#CivilRights#MilitaryState #authoritarianism #autocracy #tyranny#Gestapo #coup#TrumpCoup2
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/08/19/trump-dc-national-guard-republican-states/
Personnel from #WestVirginia arrived Monday, with troops from #SouthCarolina, #Mississippi & advance teams from #Ohio & #Tennessee expected to arrive Tuesday, a defense official said.….
[The #NationalGuard troops are]…operating under the command of Joint Task Force DC, which will decide where in the city to send troops in coordination w/agencies asking for assistance.
#law#DC#WashingtonDC#Trump#MilitaryState #authoritarianism #autocracy #tyranny#Gestapo #coup#TrumpCoup2
#law#DC#WashingtonDC#CivilRights#MilitaryState #authoritarianism #autocracy #tyranny#Gestapo #coup#TrumpCoup2
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/08/19/trump-dc-national-guard-republican-states/
The number of state #NationalGuard #troops detailed to Trump’s effort from the 6 states — #Louisiana, #Mississippi, #Tennessee, #WestVirginia, #SouthCarolina & #Ohio — amount to >1,100. Governors said they were responding to requests from the #Trump admin.
It is not clear why the admin requested additional support. About 800 troops have already been called up from the #WashingtonDC, Guard & have had a limited assigned role so far in Trump’s 10-day-old attempted takeover of #DC #law enforcement.
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