Age Verification

EFF - Electronic Frontier Foundation

Age verification, back in the day, was done by drug and package stores to verify you were old enough to buy cigarettes, beer or condoms as needs warrant, something not aimed at censorship or control but rather to properly limit young people access to these products, something altogether different in the year of our lord 2025.  Now, it's just another hustle to make money, limit civil rights and make it even more efficient for Trump and company
to spy on us 24/7.

If you live in Mississippi, you may have noticed that you are no longer able to log into your Bluesky or Dreamwidth accounts from within the state. That’s because, in a chilling early warning sign for the U.S., both social platforms decided to block all users in Mississippi from their services rather than risk hefty fines under the state’s oppressive age verification mandate. 

If this sounds like censorship to you, you’re right—it is. But it’s not these small platforms’ fault. This is the unfortunate result of Mississippi’s wide-sweeping age verification law, H.B. 1126. Though the law had previously been blocked by a federal district court, the Supreme Court lifted that injunction last month, even as one justice (Kavanaugh) concluded that the law is “likely unconstitutional.” This allows H.B. 1126 to go into effect while the broader constitutional challenge works its way through the courts. EFF has opposed H.B. 1126 from the start, arguing consistently and constantly that it violates all internet users’ First Amendment rights, seriously risks our privacy, and forces platforms to implement invasive surveillance systems that ruin our anonymity. 

Lawmakers often sell age-verification mandates as a silver bullet for Big Tech’s harms, but in practice, these laws do nothing to rein in the tech giants. Instead, they end up crushing smaller platforms that can’t absorb the exorbitant costs. Now that Mississippi’s mandate has gone into effect, the reality is clear: age verification laws entrench Big Tech’s dominance, while pushing smaller communities like Bluesky and Dreamwidth offline altogether. 

For What It's Worth applies ...

Paranoia strikes deep

Into your life it will creep

It starts when you're always afraid

Step out of line, the man come and take you away

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