Mississippi Children’s Privacy Laws (2026)

HB 1126 (2024 Regular Session)

In force · Social media · effective 2024-07-01 · binds platforms, operators

Ages: Under 18 (minors)

Requires: Covers digital services that let users socially interact, create a profile and post content other users can see (email- or messaging-only services, news, sports, commerce and game services where chat is incidental, career services, and access-only ISPs, search engines and cloud providers are excluded). Providers may not open an account until the user registers their age, must make commercially reasonable efforts to verify it, and may not let a known minor (under 18) hold an account without a parent's or guardian's express consent; for known minors they must limit data collection and use, may not collect precise geolocation, show targeted advertising involving harmful material, or share, disclose or sell their personal information (narrow exceptions), and must make commercially reasonable efforts to mitigate exposure to harmful material and content promoting self-harm, eating disorders, substance abuse, bullying, grooming and other listed harms. AG enforcement under the Consumer Protection Act, with civil penalties up to $10,000 per violation for knowing and willful violations; parents may sue only for a declaratory judgment or injunction, with no class actions.

Litigation: NetChoice, LLC v. Fitch (S.D. Miss., No. 1:24-cv-170; 5th Cir. Nos. 24-60341 and 25-60348; SCOTUS No. 25A97). District court preliminarily enjoined the Act 2024-07-01; 5th Cir. vacated and remanded 2025-04-17 (No. 24-60341); district court preliminarily enjoined Sections 1-8 as applied to eight NetChoice members (Dreamwidth, Meta, Nextdoor, Pinterest, Reddit, Snap, X, YouTube) 2025-06-18; 5th Cir. STAYED that injunction pending appeal 2025-07-17 (No. 25-60348); SCOTUS denied NetChoice's application to vacate the stay 2025-08-14 (Kavanaugh concurrence: NetChoice likely to succeed on the merits); 5th Cir. oral argument 2026-02-03, no decision. No injunction in effect; law enforceable.

Entry last reviewed 2026-10-01

HB 1224 (2026 Regular Session)

In force · Social media · effective 2026-07-01 · binds platforms, operators

Ages: Under 18 (minors)

Requires: Covers interactive computer services used or reasonably likely to be used by minors (under 18) that have a feature encouraging more use, such as infinite scroll, autoplay, rewards, push alerts, badges, personalized design features, in-game purchases or appearance-altering filters (news, broadband, email, text, telephone, e-commerce and video-streaming services are exempt, as are search engines and cloud providers that only provide access). In offering the service to minors or their parents, providers may not knowingly make false or misleading representations about it, including that it is not addictive or is safe for minors, or fail to disclose and warn of its harms, and a covered service with design features that make it addictive to a minor is deemed a defective product under Mississippi law; the Act contains no age-verification, parental-consent or account-registration requirement. For knowing and willful violations the AG may sue for an injunction and a civil penalty that may be $10,000 per instance, and a parent may sue for damages where the violation causes a minor's repeated exposure to material harmful to minors; the Act also directs the Dept. of Education to publish internet-safety resources and a grades 6-12 social-media-safety curriculum, and school districts to block student social-media access on school internet.

Litigation: Took effect 2026-07-01 as scheduled. No lawsuit identified: NetChoice's Litigation Center lists only the separate HB 1126 challenge (NetChoice v. Fitch), and a CourtListener search of the Mississippi federal courts and the Fifth Circuit finds no case against HB 1224.

Entry last reviewed 2026-10-01