Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) expects bipartisan support for various forthcoming kids’ tech safety bills, including one requiring age verification for social media and implementing an age-appropriate design code. The governor and Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R) announced support for those and two other kids’ safety bills at a livestreamed news conference Monday.
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in a case about a Texas age-verification law aimed at preventing minors from accessing adult websites. However, in addition to First Amendment implications, the case could become much broader, centering on technology that verifies the ages of website visitors younger and older than 18 and whether that process infringes on their rights.
Indiana state Sen. Mike Bohacek (R) is cutting “about two-thirds” of a social media bill requiring age verification to address concerns with the measure (SB-11), he said at a Senate Judiciary hearing Wednesday evening.
An early January surge of kids’ bills requiring age verification and parental consent continued this week, with legislation surfacing in Virginia and New Mexico. In addition, similar bills have appeared in South Dakota and Wyoming (see 2501060008).
State legislators in multiple states have revealed plans to open sessions with bills requiring age-verification.
A U.S. District Court of Northern California ruling last week in NetChoice v. Bonta, which involved a law regulating addictive social media feeds for minors, will likely hold up and pave the way for approval of similar state laws, supporters of such laws said. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is set to consider an appeal of the Dec. 31 decision rejecting NetChoice's motion to stop the law from taking effect the next day.