Bluesky goes dark in Mississippi over the law of age verification

People in Mississippi He can no longer use the social media platform Blouse. The company announced on Friday that it will ban all IP addresses inside the Mississippi in the foreseeable future in response to the speaker US Supreme Court The decision that allows the state to enforce the strict age of the age of social media platforms.

According to Bluesky, Mississippi’s approach to verification “will mainly change” how users reach the site. “We believe this law creates challenges that go beyond the goal of the child’s safety, create large barriers that limit freedom of expression and harm insulting smaller platforms and emerging techniques,” said Bluesky in Bluesky. Its statement.

Bluezki did not respond to a request for comment.

The company says that compliance with the Mississippi State Law – which will require the identification and tracking of all users under the age of 18, in addition to claiming each user with sensitive personal information to verify their age – is not possible with the current resources of the team and the infrastructure. By not complying with the law, Bluesky may face fines of up to $ 10,000 per violation. This is the first platform for the main social media that takes such strong steps in response to the law.

The law verification laws, which aim on the surface, have already started to protect children from harmful online content, have already influencing the use of the Internet on a large scale in places around the world where they were enact. In the United KingdomUsers who try to access everything starting from pornography to social platforms now should undergo identity checks, credit card checks, age estimate, and more to check that they are over the age of 18. Similar law In June, the US Supreme Court endorsed, despite critics’ concerns about the erosion of freedom of expression and access to open internet information.

Whether these laws are already effective in protecting children unclear; Using virtual private networks (VPNS) in the United Kingdom Rise After entering the age of age, as users have published technology to give up their location. On platforms like Discord, people discovered that they could use it Video game characters To deceive facial tests. In addition, Critics say Age verification laws can be aimed at reducing harm to children sometimes an opposite effect by placing children in a greater risk of identity theft and privacy violations.

WIRED contacted the sponsors of the original draft law and representatives of the Mississippi state, Ford Ford, Fabian Nelson and Larry Bird, and they will update this story if they commented.

“We believe that the child’s effective safety policies should be carefully designed to address real damage, without creating huge obstacles in front of smaller service providers and causing negative consequences for free expression,” Bluezki wrote.