Sen. Margo Juarez (D) wants to add “teeth” to Nebraska’s privacy law with a bill like California’s Delete Act that aims to make it easier for consumers to delete their data, she said in an interview Tuesday. However, at a livestreamed hearing of the bicameral legislature’s Commerce Committee Monday, counsel for Nebraska’s secretary of state raised concerns that the bill would be difficult to implement.

Democrats are exploring whether Elon Musk and his associates at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) violated privacy and national security laws when accessing Americans' private data, senators said Tuesday.

A Washington state House chair strongly supported letting individuals sue companies in comprehensive privacy legislation despite concerns that state and national industry groups raised about possibly making Washington the only state with that type of enforcement mechanism. At a livestreamed hearing Tuesday, the House Technology Committee heard support from consumer advocates and opposition from industry about HB-1671, a measure Rep. Shelley Kloba (D) introduced. Kloba hopes the bill can be scheduled for a committee vote next week, her office said after the hearing.

The Senate Commerce Committee expects to pass legislation banning social media use for children younger than 13 during Wednesday’s markup, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and committee members told us Tuesday.

The European Commission hasn't taken formal steps under the AI Act (AIA) concerning the DeepSeek AI chatbot, an EC spokesperson told us. However, several EU data protection authorities (DPAs) are probing whether DeepSeek has complied with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will serve as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency announced Monday. CFPB has key privacy authority under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). Capitol Hill Republicans told us in recent interviews they plan to use budget negotiations to rein in the agency's cost and scope.

NetChoice challenged the Maryland Age-Appropriate Design Code (MAADC) Act that introduced new compliance requirements for companies reasonably assumed to be accessible to minors. The tech industry group filed a lawsuit Monday against Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown (D), alleging that the law restricts free speech and invades privacy through age-verification requirements.

Lawyers for the government and AT&T faced questions from a panel of judges on the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals as the bench heard arguments concerning the FCC’s $57 million fine against the carrier for inadequately protecting customers’ location data. T-Mobile has also challenged more than $92 million in fines in the D.C. Circuit, and Verizon disputed a $46.9 million penalty in the 2nd Circuit, but the 5th Circuit case was the first where a panel of judges heard oral argument.

Privacy advocate Vinhcent Le learned at the end of last week he was no longer a board member of the California Privacy Protection Agency, he told us Monday. A strong voice for the consumer and one of the CPPA board’s founding members, Le's exit is concerning, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said.

The Council of Europe has begun work on data protection and neurotechnology guidelines, which it expects to complete in around two years, sources told us. The interplay between neurotechnology and data protection is important given the growing use of the technology beyond the medical sphere, speakers said at a Data Protection Day conference in Brussels on Tuesday.