Mississippi age-verification & online ID laws

Bill / statute

SB 2346 (2023)

Status

Active law in effect

Effective

Jul 1, 2023

Intrusiveness

Moderate -- Standard ID or age-estimate check to enter adult sites; civil enforcement.

SB 2346 (2023) -- adult-content age-verification for sites with a substantial share of material harmful to minors; effective July 1, 2023.

Source: billstatus.ls.state.ms.us

Bill / statute

HB 1126 (2024)

Status

Active law in effect

Effective

Jul 1, 2024

Intrusiveness

High -- Broad reach: low or no content threshold, device/OS-level, or bundled with other verification.

HB 1126, the Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act, signed April 30, 2024 and set to take effect July 1, 2024. It requires age verification of all users and parental consent for under-18s. The procedural history is the story: Judge Halil Ozerden preliminarily enjoined it on its effective date (NetChoice v. Fitch, No. 1:24-cv-00170, S.D. Miss.); the Fifth Circuit vacated that injunction on April 17, 2025 (No. 24-60341), holding the district court had not performed the two-step scope-and-applications analysis Moody v. NetChoice requires, and remanded; the district court enjoined the Act a second time; and on July 17, 2025 the Fifth Circuit stayed that injunction too, in a one-line order with no reasoning. NetChoice sought emergency relief from the Supreme Court on July 21, 2025 and was denied on August 14, 2025 -- but Justice Kavanaugh wrote separately that in his view NetChoice had demonstrated it was likely to succeed on the merits, namely that enforcing the Mississippi law would likely violate its members' First Amendment rights under the Court's precedents. So the law is being enforced while a Justice is on record predicting it will fall. The Fifth Circuit heard a second round of oral argument on February 3, 2026; no opinion has issued. Amici supporting NetChoice include the ACLU of Mississippi, FIRE and the National Coalition Against Censorship, several arguing that Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton is distinguishable because it concerned material obscene as to minors, an unprotected category, while HB 1126 reaches social media generally. Re-verified July 25, 2026: still no opinion. The court has been deliberating since the February 3 argument, so the Act remains enforceable. One signal from that hearing is worth noting because it points away from the outcome NetChoice expects: Judge Cory Wilson suggested the panel may view HB 1126 differently from earlier content-moderation cases, framing it as protecting children from predators through interactive messaging features rather than regulating speech directly -- which is the reasoning that carried Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton. Two docket numbers are easy to conflate here: the April 17, 2025 vacatur is No. 24-60341 (reported at 134 F.4th 799), while the July 17, 2025 order staying the second injunction is No. 25-60348.

Source: scotusblog.com