State fervor for child online safety bills continued apace this week. Wyoming and Utah approved age-verification measures, while several states advanced bills or introduced them. Kids privacy and online safety have been a major focus for state legislatures this year (see 2502250017 and 2501170053). Accordingly, Privacy Daily is tracking more than 100 of these bills across the country (see map).
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.
A deepfake porn bill gaining congressional momentum poses encryption-related privacy issues, policy groups said Wednesday.
Stick with the New Hampshire privacy law that took effect Jan. 1, industry lobbyists urged during a state House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday. The committee heard testimony on HB-195, which sponsor Rep. Bob Lynn (R) described as a supplement to the comprehensive New Hampshire Data Privacy Act (NHDPA). It’s “a very reasonable bill" that had bipartisan support last year, he said.
Arizona House Democrats and Republicans joined forces to vote 47-11 Monday to approve a bill meant to protect kids’ privacy on social media. The House then transmitted HB-2861 to the Senate.
The U.K. Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) Monday announced investigations into how three social media and video-sharing platforms use children's personal data. It's probing how TikTok uses personal data of teens 13 to 17 years old to make recommendations to them, and how Reddit and Imgur assess the age of child users.
The New Jersey Essex County Superior Court will dismiss the state's case against social media platform TikTok, Judge Lisa Adubato said in a notice Saturday.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) filed an answering brief in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday, reiterating that the bill regulating kids’ social media feeds at the center of the case is constitutional, and that plaintiff NetChoice failed to compile a record showing how the legislation would impact platforms -- including those of NetChoice members -- across the internet.
Department store Bloomingdale's was hit with a class-action complaint Monday over violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act for allegedly sharing personal information and data with social media platform TikTok without user consent.
The Utah Senate Business Committee unanimously cleared a bill Friday that enacts provisions related to social media data portability and interoperability.
A video games industry lobbyist raised questions Thursday about Meta’s involvement in an Alabama child online safety bill requiring app stores to check users’ ages. However, at a livestreamed hearing, the Alabama Senate Children Committee supported SB-187, an app store age-verification bill spotted in several other states including Utah. The panel also cleared SB-186, requiring that phone and tablet manufacturers activate internet filters by default to protect kids.