Age assurance can be a crucial step in online safety for children, so long as it’s done carefully and in a privacy-preserving way, said experts during a Public Knowledge event Monday. However, they warned that age assurance should be part of a larger response.
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.
California legislators worked up to the wire to make a Sept. 5 deadline for amendments, revising several bills on privacy and AI that are nearing final votes. The legislature on Friday posted fresh amendments on legislation related to universal opt-out preference signals, kids online safety and automated decisions, among other subjects. The legislative deadline to pass bills is this Friday.
Though using age assurance to access certain online platforms and websites is the route policymakers frequently take hoping to protect children online, it can end up doing more harm than good, multiple privacy organizations said in recent papers and blog posts.
Misinformation and amendments derailed a bill on data-driven pricing, also called “surveillance pricing,” that was nearing the finish line in California. After Senate appropriators last week narrowed the legislation to apply only to grocery stores (see 2509020025), Assemblymember Chris Ward (D) punted AB-446 to next year, he said in a statement Thursday.
A federal court erred when it declined to block a Tennessee age-verification law, NetChoice said Wednesday. The trade association asked the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the district court decision and issue a preliminary injunction against HB-1891, which requires that social media companies verify the age of account holders and gain parental consent from users younger than 18 before they can open accounts
The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) asked a federal court Tuesday to permanently block a Florida social media law that would prohibit kids 13 and younger from creating social media accounts through required age verification.
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Consumers filed 214 complaints in the first year since the Oregon Consumer Privacy Act (OCPA) took effect, with many concerning online data brokers, according to a report from the state’s DOJ. The right to delete data was consumers' top complaint.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals scheduled oral argument on NetChoice's challenge of a Utah age-verification law for Nov. 20 at 9 a.m. MT.
A California bill to set notification deadlines for data breaches passed the Senate unanimously on Thursday and could be headed to the governor’s desk soon. The Senate passed SB-446 on May 28 and it’s been sailing through the Assembly on consent agendas since then (see 2508200033). Meanwhile, state fiscal hawks advanced many privacy and AI bills, while holding back some others, at committee meetings Friday.