July 1 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday blocked

Mississippi from enforcing a new law that requires users of

social media platforms to verify their ages and restricts access

by minors to their sites if they lack parental consent, saying

it was likely unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Halil Suleyman Ozerden in Gulfport,

Mississippi, sided with tech industry trade group NetChoice in

finding the law unduly restricted its users' free speech rights

in violation of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

It marked the latest ruling in which a court blocked a state

law designed to protect young people online as lawmakers

nationwide look for ways to address rising concerns about the

dangers posed by social media to the mental health of children.

The measure, which was set to take effect on Monday,

required all users to verify their ages before they could open

accounts and required minors under 18 to obtain parental consent

to do so.

NetChoice, whose members include Meta Platforms' ( META )

Facebook and Instagram, Alphabet's YouTube, Snap Inc's ( SNAP )

Snapchat and Elon Musk's X, sued in June after the

measure was signed into law by Republican Governor Tate Reeves.

They argued the law, H.B. 1126, stifled users' free speech and

would force online businesses to censor speech.

Ozerden, an appointee of Republican former President George

W. Bush, agreed, saying "that a substantial number, if not all,

of H.B. 1126's applications are unconstitutional judged in

relation to its legitimate sweep."

He said the law burdened adults' rights by requiring them to

verify their ages before creating accounts to access a broad

range of speech protected by the First Amendment and on a broad

range of covered websites.

The judge also faulted the law as overly broad because it

required parental consent for minors "regardless of age and

level of maturity."

Chris Marchese, director of the NetChoice Litigation Center,

in a statement welcomed the ruling, saying it "stopped

Mississippi's law from censoring online speech, limiting access

to lawful information and undermining user privacy and security

as our case proceeds."

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, a Republican who

defended the law, in a statement said her office disagreed with

the ruling.

"We will continue to fight for this commonsense law because

our children's mental health, physical security, and innocence

should not take a back seat to Big Tech profits," she said.

NetChoice has previously won court rulings blocking similar

social media parental consent laws in Arkansas and Ohio and a

children's digital privacy law in California.