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.
Rep. Gus Bilirakis will reintroduce the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) “as soon as possible," the Florida Republican told us Thursday.
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.
New York state legislators opened their 2025 session Wednesday, introducing comprehensive and healthcare-focused privacy bills, among other measures related to consumer data. Assemblymember Nily Rozic (D) offered the 2025 version of the New York Privacy Act. However, some of it is "not aligned with other comprehensive privacy laws,” which could make compliance a challenge for businesses, warned Hinshaw & Culbertson privacy attorney Cathy Mulrow-Peattie in an email Wednesday.
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).
The U.S. District Court of Tennessee will hold a telephone status conference on Wednesday to discuss the status of a state age-verification law that took effect Jan. 1, said Judge William Campbell.
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.
New Republican leadership for the House and Senate Commerce committees could mean a full reset for federal privacy legislation in 2025. That’s according to interviews with incoming Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and incoming House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky.