Two social media safety bills are advancing in the Arkansas legislature after a court recently blocked the state’s 2023 age-verification law. Meanwhile, as many states consider age-verification bills aimed at protecting kids’ privacy online (see 2503060022), a social media age-assurance bill passed Montana's House Friday.
Social Media
Social media platforms are facing intense scrutiny over how they collect, share and monetize user data. As new state and federal laws focus on age verification, parental controls and transparency requirements, social media companies face legal risks around algorithmic targeting, third-party tracking and children's safety. This page follows key legislation, investigations and lawsuits shaping privacy practices for major social platforms.
Compliance with EU data protection principles is the first step toward ensuring that minors aren't exposed to harmful content online, European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiorowski said Monday. Age assurance or verification is also important, but it shouldn't entirely block children from accessing some content, speakers said at the European Parliament Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) meeting.
Recent rulings in litigation over the constitutionality of laws aiming to protect children online will serve as examples for other states' future attempts to regulate the area of what works and what doesn't, said Cobun Zweifel-Keegan, IAPP managing director for Washington, D.C., in a blog post Friday.
The U.S. District Court for Northern California on Wednesday threw out a privacy suit against video game publisher Ubisoft on the grounds that the display of a cookie banner and creating an account that required accepting the terms of use and privacy policy meant that Ubisoft was granted consent to use pixel tracking and collect data on users.
The Colorado Senate concurred with House amendments and re-passed a bill setting various requirements for social media companies. Senators concurred on a 35-0 vote and 29-6 to repass SB-86. It will go to the governor next.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Thursday with a district court decision and dismissed a case alleging violations of the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), taking a narrow view of what it means to be a "consumer." However, one of the three judges, Rachel Bloomekatz, issued a dissent from most of the decision.
NetChoice urged the U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee Tuesday to follow the recent decision in NetChoice, LLC v. Griffin and grant a preliminary injunction against a law requiring age verification before accessing social media accounts (see 2504010044).
The Texas House Trade Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would ban children younger than 18 from using social media platforms. The panel cleared HB-186 despite First Amendment concerns that the American Civil Liberties Union raised during a hearing last month (see 2503190040).
A revival of a California bill that would require all web browsers and mobile operating systems to provide universal opt-out mechanisms cleared its first test in the state legislature and received bipartisan support. At a late Tuesday hearing, the California Assembly Privacy Committee voted 9-0 to advance AB-566 to the Appropriations Committee.
Judges for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals appeared to side with California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) during oral argument in NetChoice v. Bonta Wednesday in what Judge Ryan Nelson called “a very complicated case” over a state law that makes it illegal for addictive internet-based services and applications to provide an addictive feed to a user younger than 18 unless the operator does not know that the user is a minor.