Privacy Daily is a service of Warren Communications News.

Va. Senate Panel Clears Bills on Geolocation and Social Media Addiction

A pair of proposed updates to Virginia’s comprehensive privacy law cleared the Senate General Laws Committee on Wednesday.

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The committee voted 12-3 on SB-1023, which would update the law to ban sale of a consumer’s precise geolocation data.

Also, the panel voted 15-0 to advance SB-854, which seeks to stop social media platforms from providing addictive feeds to users it knows are younger than 18 unless it first obtains verifiable parental consent.

By an 8-6 vote, the committee “passed by indefinitely” SB-783, a kids privacy bill that would require companies to verify parental consent and define a child as anyone younger than 18. The action could mean the bill is dead, though the committee reserves the right to revive it before the session ends.