Privacy Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week, in case you missed them. All articles can be found by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Google’s “feckless alternative” to the Utah App Store Accountability Act “would enable Google to do as little as possible,” the Digital Childhood Alliance said in a blog post expected to be published Monday.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) raised privacy concerns Monday concerning a social media bill requiring age verification. Maine’s joint Judiciary Committee received testimony on LD-844, which would require age verification and ban accounts for kids younger than 14, while allowing them for 14- and 15-year-olds with parental consent (see 2503060022).
In a win for trade association NetChoice, on Thursday the U.S. District Court for Northern California granted a preliminary injunction against California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA), which aims to protect the privacy and safety of children online. The injunction enjoins California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) and his office from enforcing the act. Judge Beth Labson Freeman said the definition of coverage in CAADCA was content-based and violated the First Amendment.
Google slammed Meta this week for supporting state bills requiring app stores to verify users’ ages. However, an advocacy group for children online rejected the idea of a single best way to verify ages.
The Vermont Senate passed its age-appropriate design code legislation (S-69) Thursday by voice vote. It still needs approval from the House. Some Republicans objected to the bill during debate Wednesday (see 2503120045).
Washington state senators voted 36-12 Wednesday for a kids privacy bill (SB-5708).
Expect House Republicans to take up a Senate-passed deepfake porn bill “promptly,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Thursday (see 2503050017).
Judge Algenon Marbley for the U.S. District Court of Southern Ohio, peppered the state with questions about content neutrality Wednesday during oral argument in NetChoice v. Yost. The case concerns NetChoice's challenge of an Ohio age-verification law that requires websites targeting children younger than 18 to obtain parental consent before engaging in contracts with minors, among other things.
The U.S. District Court for Northern California on Thursday granted NetChoice’s request for a preliminary injunction against California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA) aimed at protecting the privacy and safety of children online. California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) and his office are enjoined from enforcing the act.