Mississippi's new social media age-verification law has now forced BlueSky to block Mississippi IP addresses. Our Mississippi Free Press team is now urgently having to grapple with what that means for our audience—and for press freedom. My new editorial:
Wouldn't a VPN correct for this?
Does this apply to Xitter? Didn’t think so
It applies to all social media platforms. I haven't seen any comply yet so far though.
They prolly wouldn't have to do this if more than 15% of Mississippi homes had fathers.
I hope you will keep posting here on Bluesky. Not all your followers here are from Mississippi!
I don't mean to sound like a Luddite, but how were you able to post this? Are you using a VPN?
I'm not sure why; some Mississippians are able to use BlueSky right now without a VPN and some aren't. I'm not using a VPN at the moment. I think my IP address has a tendency to bounce from Mississippi to Louisiana, so I probably have a Louisiana IP at the moment.
Oh, that's interesting. I hope you'll be able to continue posting.
Because IP geolocation is wildly imperfect. I have three ISP accounts. Even though I'm in Tennessee, the IP lookup shows those connections as being in California, Texas, and New Jersey. The IP is located where the ISP is headquartered.
Interesting, has Twitter & Facebook complied with law? Seems like all platforms should comply at the same time. Twitter & FB purposely dismantled their moderation & monitoring teams because grooming young right wingers butters their bread.
Hell of a state you’ve got there… gl and good night.
I will continue following you. I'm not in Mississippi, but your posts are very informative, regardless.
bsky.app/profile/sock...
My cell service provider routes internet traffic through Atlanta, so access isn’t blocked. If you’re so inclined, TOR probably will bypass the blocks as well. If MS ISP’s get enough complaints, they probably will implement work arounds as well. (IP address location has never been reliable.)
If only Hitler had this power in the 30's! The all Aryan Hell world would be wearing Nazi arm bands, speaking German, and dutifully turning in their neighbors to the SS! Maybe you should appease the tyrant like the other traitors to the Constitution. Gold works!
Soooo. Currently live in ms. My app still works? Hoping maybe I’ve found a loophole.
It just shut down for me about 15 minutes ago. Just swapped over to VPN.
I've heard a couple others say the app is working for them in MS. Hope it continues. 🤞🏽
Fr. I hate this place 🤦🏼♂️
Legislators are right to want to protect children but this isn’t it. It won’t stop kids from using social media—VPN anyone?—but it will create undo burdens on small companies and more data troves for criminals to steal. And they will.
While we figure out what this means for our future (trust me, we're sticking around), please consider donating to our nonprofit newsroom. We're paywall-free, so your donations fund our journalism (and help us figure out new ways to stay connected with readers!). Give here: givebutter.com/mfpdonate
Also, while we plan to do everything we can to continue posting on BlueSky, you can make sure you stay connected to our stories by signing up for our free daily newsletter or weekend-only newsletter at mfp.ms/subscribe.
Don't forget to follow us at @mississippifreepress.org! We're going to keep posting if we can!
If you are not following Ashton Pittman, you should. And if you can, pls contribute to the MS Freepress.
I assume you're on a VPN now. I'm hoping the contributions allow you to set up a contract with a VPN for a more permanent solution. Well, at least until this stupid law gets hopefully overturned.
Here's a new link that offers an easier way to sign up for our newsletter: Here's an updated version: www.mississippifreepress.org/newsletters/
Get a VPN.
For what its worth, in Mississippi, but using a T-Mobile tower in Alabama, so, recheck work around I guess
Redneck!
I'm hard pressed to find anything in the verbiage of this bill that has any factual resemblance re: "potential harm to minors" in reference to what MFP is and does. Overly broad is doing a very heavy lift here, and this makes no sense. Am I missing something, Ashton?
set up tinc or another vpn with a droplet on digital ocean in us-east or us-west. route your bsky activity through it. multiple people can connect over the same tinc vpn, you don't need separate droplets
I just tried to sign up for the newsletter at that link, but it wouldn't let me. Unless I provide my phone? Which I'm not going to do, sorry, I really do not want texts.
Hmm, it shouldn't require your phone number. Texts are an option, but your number is not supposed to be required to subscribe to the email newsletter. I'll ask the team to look into that.
Thanks. The specific issue is that there was no interactivity to select my preferred newsletter.
Try this and see if it works better: Here's an updated version: www.mississippifreepress.org/newsletters/
That worked, thanks!
You're welcome!
Like in the UK when they introduced age verification laws, VPN usage will surge. www.bbc.com/news/article...
VPN
Hopefully this doesn't get lost in the million replies (or someone has already sent it to you), but this might be very useful to you and your readers. See the custom adblock filters and scripting extension options. gist.github.com/mary-ext/6e2...
Sent some $ your way. I wonder if you and your readers could use the 3rd party apps like skyfeed, deck dot blue, graysky, etc. as a short-term solution that requires less tech savviness?
It's not like the kids don't know about VPNs. The Mississippi legislatures don't, though.
Would have been nice to have the volume turned up like this when the AV laws were being installed for Adult websites.
It's sad that a nazi soldier wrote more wisdom on 1 scrap of paper than the current mainstream Democrats ever said about this subject.
Meanwhile, Facebook is like "oh please give us your government issued ID!"
Insane
Can no longer go to bsky in browser without vpn but this works. (For now.)
Where are we China?
Literally the post right above yours on my feed was someone complaining that AT&T routed their phone traffic through Mississippi, and therefore got them blocked and forced to use a VPN Thought you might like to know
bsky.app/profile/pear...
There was not 1 person from 170 who thought, "This is a shit bill, which will lead to all sorts of problems and unforeseen issues, including restricting and limiting access of individuals to access the information of their own choosing." Not a single one: legiscan.com/MS/votes/HB1...
8 NVs, probably every Dem in our state house. Of course, they can’t vote against “protecting children” lest they be smeared for that vote daily for all of eternity.
Read the title of any bill created by Republicans and assume it will accomplish the opposite.
Your article is the lead news link in my newsletter. Bluesky is shutdown in Mississippi. Who is next where? The Christians are going after adult content with their very expansive defenitions of what is adult content. All platforms everywhere are at risk. Feminists are assisting them.
I am doing a post for my newsletter on Substack. This is the lead article in a list of articles about the block.
or maybe the centralized corporate platform which is bankrolled by Mark Andreessen COMPLIED IN ADVANCE
I'm in Louisiana and Bluesky doesn't work for me unless I'm using data and not wifi.
Hey, come to Colorado! The press is free here. There’s another MS expat on my street. He flies an Ole Miss flag. I don’t even have one.
Maybe!! You should probably have one then
I should. And I love the new state flag.
Wow. I lived in Arkansas for 19 years, and our Free Press was essential to maintaining freedom of thought. This kind of thing would have been devastating. This kind of law doesn’t address the problem they say it does, but it silences many smaller voices. #CapitalismStinks #Degrowth
Time for Radio Free Mississippi
What about other social media platforms? I’m curious as to if the others are blocking MS IP addresses.
What happened to the First Ammendment 😕 🤔
The Opera browser ships with a VPN
I'm in Memphis, and it's blocking me. I used my phone hotspot to get around it.
VPNs. Bypass the luddites.
as others have said..VPN
VPN helps me stay on here because I know about VPNs. It doesn't help ensure our audience or potential audience from MS will be on here.
Luv too be decentralized, sigh.
@aricohn.com ICYMI
@proton.me they have an awesome VPN that is free
VPN. Show mississippi how silly the law they just passed
Solution: VPN.
Is X blocked.
Have you heard of VPNs?
I suspect that age-verification is a Trojan horse for internet surveillance of adults.
Of course it is. They want your gov ID associated with your online activities
How is that possible when I third party is the one doing the age verification? The government doesn’t receive any information
Third-party could be compelled to turn over that information
The only info the third party holds is the ID, there’s no browsing history attached to it
3rd party will get a unique token from Social Media company & be asked to verify if that token is an adult. So they will have real ID plus token. SM company has your browsing history tied to the pseudonymous token. A govt request of both parts of puzzle from each company will de-anonymise user.
thanks for explaining this.
Exactly. But, also it depends on who owns that verification company, doesn't it? When it comes to the tech-bros propping up Agent Orange, I wouldn't trust their posted Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
Considering, ahem, everything happening, why would there be any expectation that the regime would bother following any relevant laws?
Of course it is. They're not even pretending anymore.
How do social media companies actually verify users ages?
Require an ID usually. The ID checks are pretty laughable, folks have used videogame images before to get past it.
bsky.app/profile/dutc...
Ah yes, nothing screams freedom like needing government permission to post cat memes
Exactly! It was all in Project 2025. Control everything.
I’m able to access y’all today.
Is BlueSky the only platform impacted? What about Facebook, Twitter, etc.?
I am afraid this was precisely the goal of the MAGA controlled state.