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Age Verification Is A Windfall for Big Tech—And A Death Sentence For Smaller Platforms


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...

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. As we can see from Mississippi, age verification mandates concentrate and consolidate power in the hands of the largest companies—the only entities with the resources to build costly compliance systems and absorb potentially massive fines. PORTLAND, OR – Saudi human rights activist Loujain Alhathloul’s groundbreaking lawsuit concerning spying software that enabled her imprisonment and torture can advance, a federal judge ruled in an opinion unsealed Tuesday.

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