More companies could become subject to the Montana Consumer Data Privacy Act under changes contemplated by the original law’s sponsor. Senate Energy and Technology Chair Daniel Zolnikov (R) told Privacy Daily on Thursday he wants to slash the legislation’s applicability thresholds and tighten exemptions. Moreover, under a bill (SB-297) he filed earlier this week, Montana would also add child protections and cut in half the comprehensive privacy law’s 60-day right to cure.
The EU needs a consistent approach to age assurance, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) said in a statement Wednesday after its Feb. 9 plenary. It set out specific guidance and high-level principles arising from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that it said should be considered when personal data is processed in the context of age verification.
A Missouri bill mandating age-verification on porn websites won unanimous approval in the state’s House Children and Families Committee on Tuesday.
The Utah Senate approved an app store age-verification bill Monday. State senators voted 24-1 to send SB-142 to the House; Sen. Heidi Balderree (R) voted no.
It’s up to social media companies, which make “trillions of dollars” a year, to determine how to effectively verify users’ ages and parental consent for minors, said Connecticut Attorney General William Tong (D) on Monday. Tong urged legislators to pass a kids’ social media bill (HB-6857) at a livestreamed Connecticut General Law Committee hearing. Tech industry groups condemned the proposal in statements.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should direct a lower court to enjoin California’s 2024 law (SB-976) restricting social media feeds for minors, consumer privacy advocates and free-market groups said in amicus briefs filed Thursday (case 25-146). As it urged the appeals court to reverse the U.S. District Court for Northern California, the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) raised privacy concerns about requiring companies to conduct age verification.
Illinois legislators introduced a slew of privacy measures last week, including a comprehensive bill, Delete Act proposal and multiple updates to the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
The European Data Protection Board will discuss DeepSeek at its Feb. 11 plenary. Several Data Protection Authorities are investigating the AI chatbot (see 2502030001). The board could also approve a statement on age assurance.
Maryland, one of many states across the country introducing age-verification bills aimed at protecting children online, heard testimony Wednesday in support of HB-394. The bill would make websites liable for distributing obscene content to kids younger than 18, while setting data retention rules for identifying information collected for age verification (see 2501170053).
A privacy expert who worked on Maryland's age-appropriate design code (AADC) said she hopes it can better withstand legal challenges than the California version of the law.