The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday declined an emergency request by technology trade group NetChoice to halt Mississippi’s House Bill 1126, allowing the state to begin enforcing age-verification and parental-consent rules on social-media platforms while litigation continues. The unsigned order drew no recorded dissents. Enacted in 2024, the law requires every user to confirm their age before opening or maintaining an account. Minors must obtain explicit parental permission, and platforms must make “reasonable efforts” to shield under-18 users from content the state deems harmful. Violations carry civil fines of up to $10,000, with additional exposure under Mississippi’s deceptive-trade-practices statute. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing separately, said NetChoice had “demonstrated it would likely succeed on the merits” because the measure probably infringes First Amendment rights, but he concluded the group had not shown sufficient immediate harm to justify emergency relief. The order leaves in place a July decision by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that lifted a district-court injunction against the statute. NetChoice, whose members include Meta, Alphabet and Snap, is fighting similar laws in at least nine other states. The case is expected to return to the high court once lower-court proceedings establish a final record.