State bills on child online safety received key committee OKs in several states this week. Kids privacy has been a focus for state legislatures this year (see 2501170053).
What constitutes a “covered business” under Vermont’s proposed Age-Appropriate Design Code (AADC) Act dominated arguments at a Senate Insitutions Committee hearing Friday.
The Virginia legislature passed kids social media and student privacy bills on Thursday. The Senate voted 39-0 to agree with House substitutes on SB-854 and SB-1486. The House voted 97-0 and 98-0, respectively, for the bills earlier that day.
The South Carolina House passed a kids social media bill requiring age verification Thursday. Members voted 89-14 to send H-3431 to the Senate.
The South Dakota Senate on Wednesday passed a bill requiring adult websites to verify user age (see 2502190022).
Policy debates about age verification methods and privacy should be informed by recent developments in technology, not the assumption that privacy and security are always at odds, Luke Hogg, director of technology policy, and Evan Swarztrauber, senior fellow, Foundation for American Innovation, said in a research paper posted Tuesday.
Connecticut’s age-verification bill includes only minor changes from current state privacy and social media regulations, Sen. James Maroney (D) said Wednesday.
A South Dakota Senate panel advanced an age-verification bill that the House passed last month (see 2501220002). The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 7-0 Tuesday to clear HB-1053, which requires age verification to limit websites containing harmful material to users 18 and older. The panel tabled the similar SB-18 and deferred another bill (SB-180) that would require age verification on app stores.
Long-anticipated bills by Vermont state Rep. Monique Priestly (D) on comprehensive data privacy (H-208), an age-appropriate design code (H-210) and data broker deletion requirements (H-211) formally entered the legislature on Wednesday. The 2025 privacy bill “contains a number of adjustments that address concerns from stakeholders, including members of the business community, while maintaining the core consumer protections expected by Vermonters,” said an H-208 summary.
The federal government’s failure to act on children and teens’ online safety and privacy was called out in a Thursday hearing in Washington state's Senate Business Committee. Supporters of a bipartisan bill to protect minors online said that job is now up to the states.