The Texas House Trade Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would ban children younger than 18 from using social media platforms. The panel cleared HB-186 despite First Amendment concerns that the American Civil Liberties Union raised during a hearing last month (see 2503190040).
A revival of a California bill that would require all web browsers and mobile operating systems to provide universal opt-out mechanisms cleared its first test in the state legislature and received bipartisan support. At a late Tuesday hearing, the California Assembly Privacy Committee voted 9-0 to advance AB-566 to the Appropriations Committee.
Judges for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals appeared to side with California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) during oral argument in NetChoice v. Bonta Wednesday in what Judge Ryan Nelson called “a very complicated case” over a state law that makes it illegal for addictive internet-based services and applications to provide an addictive feed to a user younger than 18 unless the operator does not know that the user is a minor.
The Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) raised concerns Tuesday with a California bill that would require manufacturers to transmit signals about users’ ages.
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The U.S. District Court for Western Arkansas ruled Monday in favor of tech trade association NetChoice, permanently enjoining an Arkansas social media safety act as unconstitutional. The court said the age-verification law violated the First and 14th Amendments.
Device manufacturers would transmit age-verification signals under a California bill (AB-1043), as amended Friday by sponsor Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D).
NetChoice and the Computer Communications Industry Association (CCIA) re-filed a lawsuit Friday against Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) over HB-3, which the groups allege violates the First Amendment and puts cybersecurity and privacy risks on state residents. The same day at another federal district court, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown (D) sought to dismiss a separate NetChoice lawsuit against the Maryland Age-Appropriate Design Code (MAADC) Act.
Rhode Island’s age-verification legislation raises privacy concerns for adults and minors who don’t want to share personal information with social media platforms, the American Civil Liberties Union told state lawmakers Thursday.
Utah added a right to correct inaccurate information to its comprehensive privacy law. Gov. Spencer Cox (R) Thursday signed HB-418, which would also require social media data portability and interoperability (see 2503100039).