Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal (D) doesn’t believe tech industry opposition can stop his bill to set civil penalties for big social media platforms that breach their “responsibility of ordinary care and skill” to children under 18, he said at an Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday. Also, Lowenthal disagreed with concerns that AB-2, moving in the Assembly after a court blocked California’s age-appropriate design code (see 2503140063), could lead to more litigation.
The Arkansas Senate quickly passed governor-backed legislation to amend the state’s court-enjoined Social Media Safety Act.
In a lengthy hearing Tuesday in front of Vermont's House Commerce and Economic Committee, lawmakers weighed testimony from concerned parents, youth and other advocates of a kids code bill. However, the tech industry opposed the bill for privacy and First Amendment reasons.
Two social media safety bills are advancing in the Arkansas legislature after a court recently blocked the state’s 2023 age-verification law. Meanwhile, as many states consider age-verification bills aimed at protecting kids’ privacy online (see 2503060022), a social media age-assurance bill passed Montana's House Friday.
Compliance with EU data protection principles is the first step toward ensuring that minors aren't exposed to harmful content online, European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiorowski said Monday. Age assurance or verification is also important, but it shouldn't entirely block children from accessing some content, speakers said at the European Parliament Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) meeting.
Recent rulings in litigation over the constitutionality of laws aiming to protect children online will serve as examples for other states' future attempts to regulate the area of what works and what doesn't, said Cobun Zweifel-Keegan, IAPP managing director for Washington, D.C., in a blog post Friday.
The U.S. District Court for Northern California on Wednesday threw out a privacy suit against video game publisher Ubisoft on the grounds that the display of a cookie banner and creating an account that required accepting the terms of use and privacy policy meant that Ubisoft was granted consent to use pixel tracking and collect data on users.
The Colorado Senate concurred with House amendments and re-passed a bill setting various requirements for social media companies. Senators concurred on a 35-0 vote and 29-6 to repass SB-86. It will go to the governor next.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Thursday with a district court decision and dismissed a case alleging violations of the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), taking a narrow view of what it means to be a "consumer." However, one of the three judges, Rachel Bloomekatz, issued a dissent from most of the decision.
NetChoice urged the U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee Tuesday to follow the recent decision in NetChoice, LLC v. Griffin and grant a preliminary injunction against a law requiring age verification before accessing social media accounts (see 2504010044).