Connecticut Senator Defends Age-Verification Proposal

The Senate General Law Committee heard testimony on SB-1295, which the committee introduced in January. The attorney general-enforced bill would require social media platforms to perform impact assessments and create online safety centers to combat cyberbullying and promote mental well-being. It requires platforms to obtain verifiable parental consent for minors using certain social media features.

Chamber of Progress Northeast State Director Briana January testified in opposition, saying the bill’s knowledge standard amounts to a “de-facto” age verification requirement and a “tremendous encroachment on individual privacy.” Adult users shouldn’t have to provide personally identifiable information to social media platforms in order to access protected speech, she said. She also spoke against data processing restrictions included in the bill.

Maroney said the bill’s age-verification standard was included in Connecticut’s privacy law passed in 2022, and it’s the same standard used in the vast majority of current state privacy laws. He acknowledged there are ongoing legal questions about “vague” language in bills targeting social media harms against children. Legislators need to be more specific on terms like mental health, he said. He said SB-1295 is straightforward in that it asks companies to perform an impact assessment to determine whether there is a heightened risk of harm to minors on their platforms. If there is a heightened risk, platforms must put a mitigation plan in place. He said SB-1295 offers only “very minor” changes from laws already on the books in Connecticut.