July 21 (Reuters) - An internet trade association whose

members include Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat asked the U.S.

Supreme Court on Monday to block a Mississippi law that imposes

age-verification and parental-consent requirements on social

media sites.

Washington, D.C.-based NetChoice said in its filing that a

5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel improperly allowed the

Mississippi law to take effect even though a judge had found the

regulations likely violate constitutional free speech

protections.

The law requires minors to obtain parental consent to open

accounts at certain kinds of digital service providers, and says

regulated platforms must make "commercially reasonable" efforts

to verify users' ages. The state can pursue civil penalties of

up to $10,000 per violation as well as criminal penalties under

Mississippi's deceptive trade practices law.

NetChoice's emergency

filing

provides the first opportunity for the Supreme Court to

consider a social media age-verification law.

"Just as the government can't force you to provide

identification to read a newspaper, the same holds true when

that news is available online," Paul Taske, co-director of the

NetChoice Litigation Center, said in a statement.

The Mississippi attorney general's office in a statement

welcomed the 5th Circuit's order permitting the law to take

effect and said it looked forward to the appellate court's full

consideration of the case.

Courts in Florida, Texas and five other states have

preliminarily or permanently blocked similar measures, NetChoice

said in its filing. Only Mississippi has been allowed to

implement its rules.

NetChoice, which sued to block the Mississippi law in

2024, said in Monday's Supreme Court filing that its members'

social media platforms have already adopted extensive policies

to moderate content for minors and provide parental controls.

States increasingly have sought ways to mitigate the

potentially harmful effects of social media on young people.

Some big technology companies are separately battling

lawsuits from U.S. states, school districts and individual users

alleging social platforms have fueled mental health problems.

The companies have denied any wrongdoing.

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

Mississippi, last year blocked Mississippi from enforcing the

restrictions on some NetChoice members.

Ozerden issued a second order in June pausing the rules

against those members, including Meta and its Instagram and

Facebook platforms, Snapchat and YouTube.

A Fifth Circuit appeals panel last week issued a

one-sentence ruling that paused the lower court order, without

explaining its reasoning.

The case is NetChoice v. Fitch, U.S. Supreme Court, not yet

assigned.

For applicant: Scott Keller of Lehotsky Keller Cohn

For respondent: No appearance yet

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