In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Texas law requiring age verification for access to porn sites. The ruling sided with Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) in support of the state's HB-1181, which the Free Speech Coalition, an adult industry trade association, challenged in a 2023 lawsuit, saying it violated the First Amendment (see 2409170012).
A district court on Thursday granted a preliminary injunction against a 2024 Georgia law aimed at protecting kids by requiring age verification and parental consent for minors to create social media accounts. However, Georgia's attorney general signaled that the state will continue to fight for the law.
Multi Media asked a federal court on Monday to drop a suit against the porn site, claiming the plaintiff failed to state a claim. Multi Media was one of four adult websites sued in the U.S. District Court for Kansas on May 12 for allegedly violating Kansas law by failing to implement age verification on their sites (see 2505130023).
Google on Tuesday announced its support for legislation that would update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
A federal court on Wednesday declined to block a Tennessee law requiring that social media companies verify the age of account holders and gain parental consent from users younger than 18 before they can open accounts.
The New York Child Data Protection Act (NYCDPA), which took effect Friday, is unique for many reasons, including its age-flag requirement and because New York lacks a comprehensive law covering users of all ages, experts said in interviews. However, like a good deal of privacy and online safety regulations, it may face legal challenges, said Jason Oliveri, data privacy partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson.
A district court preliminarily enjoined a Mississippi social media age-verification law for the second time Wednesday, ruling it's too broad to survive a First Amendment challenge. The U.S. District Court for Southern Mississippi previously enjoined the same law, HB-1126, in July 2024 (see 2407010062).
The Tennessee attorney general on Monday pushed back against NetChoice's recent claim that a district court decision blocking enforcement of a Florida social media law requiring age verification (see 2506030057) should serve as a reason to do the same thing against similar measures in Tennessee (see 2506040049).
Louisiana’s app store age-verification bill will go to Gov. Jeff Landry (R) after the state's House and Senate unanimously agreed to a conference report on HB-570 Thursday. The bill would impose age-verification requirements on app stores before users can download apps.
While children and teens' safety online has been a focus of regulators and lawmakers globally, privacy experts believe this trend will continue growing, according to their recent posts.