is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. The Supreme Court will let Mississippi’s social media age verification law take effect while the case is being argued in court. In an unsigned ruling on Thursday, the court declined to block the law after an emergency petition from trade association NetChoice. It also states that social media sites must protect underage users from “harmful material” — such as sexual content and material related to self-harm — as well as restrict data collection. NetChoice, which is backed by tech giants like Meta, Google, Amazon, Reddit, and Discord, argues that age verification laws for general-purpose social media violate the First Amendment.