The Big Story 

The Supreme Court declined to block Mississippi from enforcing its social media age-verification law against nine major platforms, for now.

© J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press

In an emergency ruling Thursday, the justices denied internet trade group NetChoice’s request to reinstate a lower court’s order protecting social media giants like Meta, X and YouTube from the new requirements.  

The Supreme Court did not explain its order or disclose the vote count, as is typical in emergency cases. 

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, however, wrote a solo opinion cautioning that NetChoice is likely to ultimately succeed on its First Amendment claims even though he was siding against the group at this stage.

“In short, under this Court’s case law as it currently stands, the Mississippi law is likely unconstitutional,” Kavanaugh’s brief opinion reads. 

“Nonetheless, because NetChoice has not sufficiently demonstrated that the balance of harms and equities favors it at this time, I concur in the Court’s denial of the application for interim relief,” the conservative justice continued. 

NetChoice had asked the court to intervene after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit lifted the district judge’s decision shielding the platforms from the 2024 law without explanation. 

“Neither NetChoice nor this Court can know why the Fifth Circuit believed this law satisfies the First Amendment’s stringent demands or deviated from the seven other decisions enjoining similar laws,” NetChoice wrote in its request.

It argued it would face “immediate, irreparable” injury should the law be allowed to go into effect.  

Mississippi’s law establishes requirements for social media companies to confirm their users’ ages.

Minors must have express consent from a parent or guardian to use the platform, and covered websites must strive to eliminate their exposure to harmful material or face a $10,000 fine.  

U.S. District Judge Halil Suleyman Ozerden found the law unconstitutional as applied to NetChoice members YouTube, X, Snapchat, Reddit, Pinterest, Nextdoor, Dreamwidth and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram. 

The Hill’s Ella Lee has more here.

Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, I’m Julia Shapero — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.

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Crypto Corner 

Bitcoin hits new record before downward slide

© iStock

Bitcoin hit a new record late Wednesday, crossing $124,000 for the first time before experiencing a steep downward slide Thursday.

The digital token has repeatedly marked new highs in 2025, as a crypto-friendly Washington fuels enthusiasm.

It dipped back down to about $117,000 by Thursday evening, after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration would not be buying bitcoin for the strategic reserve.

“We’ve also started, to get into the 21st century, a bitcoin strategic reserve,” Bessent said on Fox Business. “We’re not going to be buying that, but we are going to use confiscated assets and continue to build that up. We’re going to stop selling that.”

President Trump signed an executive order in March establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve and a digital asset stockpile.

The order directed the government to build the reserve with bitcoin already seized by federal law enforcement while disrupting financial crimes.

Bessent said Thursday he believes that sum is worth between $15 billion and $20 billion in today’s prices.

He later wrote in a post on X that the Treasury Department is “committed to exploring budget-neutral pathways to acquire more Bitcoin to expand the reserve.”

Crypto Corner is a daily feature focused on digital currency and its outlook in Washington.

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