Bluesky, the social networking startup, has announced its decision to block access to its platform within the state of Mississippi. This move comes as a direct response to Mississippi’s new age assurance law, which the company says it cannot comply with due to limited resources and concerns about the law’s scope and privacy implications.

In a blog post released on Friday, the company stated that its small team lacks the capacity to implement the significant technical changes mandated by the law. They also expressed reservations regarding the law’s broad reach and its potential impact on user privacy.

Mississippi’s HB 1126 mandates that all social media platforms implement age verification measures for every user before granting access. Last Thursday, U.S. Supreme Court justices rejected an emergency appeal seeking to prevent the law from taking effect while legal challenges are ongoing.

Faced with the reality of the law, Bluesky had to determine its course of action.

Unlike laws requiring age verification for specific content, Mississippi’s law demands age verification from all users. This would require bluesky to verify the age of every user and obtain parental consent for those under 18. the company also pointed out that noncompliance could result in substantial penalties, reaching up to $10,000 per user.

bluesky argues that the law extends beyond its stated goal of child safety, creating “significant barriers that limit free speech and disproportionately harm smaller platforms and emerging technologies.”

Compliance would force Bluesky to collect and store sensitive data from all users, in addition to closely monitoring minors.This differs from other age verification laws, such as the U.K.’s Online Safety Act (OSA), which only requires age checks for certain content and features.

According to Bluesky, mississippi’s law effectively prevents anyone from using the platform unless they provide their personal and sensitive data.

Bluesky Cites Resource Constraints

“Unlike tech giants with vast resources, we’re a small team focused on building decentralized social technology that puts users in control.”

“Unlike tech giants with vast resources, we’re a small team focused on building decentralized social technology that puts users in control,” the company’s blog post stated. “Age verification systems require substantial infrastructure and developer time investments, complex privacy protections, and ongoing compliance monitoring – costs that can easily overwhelm smaller providers. This dynamic entrenches existing big tech platforms while stifling the innovation and competition that benefits users.”

Following the announcement, some Bluesky users outside of Mississippi reported experiencing issues accessing the service due to their cell providers routing traffic thru servers located in the state. CTO Paul Frazee responded on Saturday, stating that the company was “working [to] deploy an update to our location detection that we hope will solve some inaccuracies.”

The company clarified that its decision applies only to the Bluesky app built on the AT Protocol, noting that other apps may choose to handle the situation differently.