{"id":7416,"date":"2025-08-18T20:42:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T20:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/supreme-court-allows-mississippi-to-enforce-social-media-restrictions-affecting-children-justia-news-august-18-2025\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T20:42:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T20:42:51","slug":"supreme-court-allows-mississippi-to-enforce-social-media-restrictions-affecting-children-justia-news-august-18-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/supreme-court-allows-mississippi-to-enforce-social-media-restrictions-affecting-children-justia-news-august-18-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Allows Mississippi to Enforce Social Media Restrictions Affecting Children \u2014 Justia News \u2014 August 18, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Legislators in many states have grown concerned about the safety of children online, especially while using social media. One of these states is Mississippi, which passed a law last year requiring social media networks to take steps to verify the ages of people creating accounts. The new law<\/a> also prevents children from using social media without the consent of their parents. In addition, social media networks must take steps to prevent or limit the exposure of children to \u201charmful material.\u201d Violations may result in civil and criminal penalties.<\/p>\n

A tech industry association, NetChoice, sued to block the Mississippi law. Its members include social media companies like Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Reddit, X (Twitter), and YouTube. NetChoice argued that the law violates the free speech protections provided by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It pointed out that parents have other ways to control how their children use the internet, such as parental controls in web browsers. NetChoice asked the trial judge to issue a \u201cpreliminary injunction,\u201d blocking the state from enforcing the law against its members as the litigation progresses. The judge granted the injunction<\/a> in June, finding that the First Amendment likely bars enforcement against the social media companies and that the circumstances warranted this emergency relief.<\/p>\n

Mississippi appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In a one-sentence order<\/a> last month, the Fifth Circuit put the injunction on hold while the state appeals. This allowed Mississippi to enforce its law during that time. NetChoice then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to undo the Fifth Circuit\u2019s order and put the injunction back in effect.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Supreme Court rejected this request<\/a> through its emergency docket. Most of the Justices didn\u2019t explain why they left the Fifth Circuit\u2019s pause in place. However, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that the Mississippi law probably violates the First Amendment, but NetChoice hadn\u2019t shown a need to block the law at this stage of the litigation.<\/p>\n

Mississippi thus can enforce the law for now, but its long-term survival remains uncertain. The Supreme Court eventually may review the case (or a similar case) on its merits. This would clarify the scope of the First Amendment in this sensitive context, which pits the powerful need to protect children against a core constitutional right.<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Ground Picture \/ Shutterstock.com<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n