Protect free speech on social media
The “Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act” (2024: HB 1126) is a Mississippi law that ends all social media access for three million people unless they give up their personal information and live under broad censorship.
Status
This law is currently in effect. It passed the House and the Senate without objection, and was signed into law by the governor. There is an active lawsuit challenging its constitutionality.
Details
This law requires all social media sites (even message boards and chat rooms) to:
- perform age verification before allowing access to any content—unlike other laws, which only require age verification for age-restricted content
- censor a broad range of content, including anything that encourages: harassment, violence, substance abuse, drugs, eating disorders, self-harm, or any illegal activity
There are concerns that the loss of anonymity, and the rise of censorship, will have a chilling effect on free speech.
The law requires the collecting and storing of personal information about all users, including the detailed tracking of minors. There are concerns that this information will become a target for hackers and bad-faith actors, exposing users to identity theft and persecution for their participation in social media.
The fines for non-compliance are severe: up to $10,000 per user. This is not workable for small social sites, including Bluesky, which is ending all access to users in Mississippi as a result.
This effective result is that entrenched mega corporations benefit while small sites and startups disappear.
Workarounds
Bluesky is blocking Mississippi IP addresses, so tools that change a user’s IP address remain a viable option for overcoming the block.
Some users are turning to VPNs (such as Cloudflare’s WARP), or alternative frontends for the Bluesky protocol (e.g. Graysky).
Further Reading
- “Bluesky Blocks Mississippi Users Over Sweeping Age Verification Law.” ePRNews. August 23, 2025.
- “Our Response to Mississippi’s Age Assurance Law.” Bluesky. August 22, 2025.
- “Mississippi can start using law on social media age verification, court says.” Mississippi Today. Emily Pettus, Simeon Gates. July 18, 2025.
- “NetChoice v. Fitch (Mississippi).” NetChoice. Chris Marchese. June 7, 2024.