Kids and their guardians on Wednesday urged the U.S. District Court for Central California to continue pursuing a class-action complaint against TikTok alleging the social media platform invaded the privacy of users younger than 13, a violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and other laws. TikTok filed a motion to dismiss on Jan. 29 on the basis that the plaintiffs never identified what personal information was collected from them, or how that caused them harm.
Three amicus briefs were submitted to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday supporting California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) in a case about a bill regulating social media feeds for minors. The legislation, S.B.-976, would make it illegal for 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.
Several groups said in amicus briefs they support Snap and Meta in arguing to the California Supreme Court that the social media platforms shouldn't be required to turn over posts and other communications made on the apps as evidence in a California murder case. Doing so would significantly decrease the power of the 1986 Stored Communications Act (SCA), they argued in briefs obtained by Privacy Daily.
State fervor for child online safety bills continued apace this week. Wyoming and Utah approved age-verification measures, while several states advanced bills or introduced them. Kids privacy and online safety have been a major focus for state legislatures this year (see 2502250017 and 2501170053). Accordingly, Privacy Daily is tracking more than 100 of these bills across the country (see map).
A deepfake porn bill gaining congressional momentum poses encryption-related privacy issues, policy groups said Wednesday.
Stick with the New Hampshire privacy law that took effect Jan. 1, industry lobbyists urged during a state House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday. The committee heard testimony on HB-195, which sponsor Rep. Bob Lynn (R) described as a supplement to the comprehensive New Hampshire Data Privacy Act (NHDPA). It’s “a very reasonable bill" that had bipartisan support last year, he said.
Arizona House Democrats and Republicans joined forces to vote 47-11 Monday to approve a bill meant to protect kids’ privacy on social media. The House then transmitted HB-2861 to the Senate.
The U.K. Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) Monday announced investigations into how three social media and video-sharing platforms use children's personal data. It's probing how TikTok uses personal data of teens 13 to 17 years old to make recommendations to them, and how Reddit and Imgur assess the age of child users.
The New Jersey Essex County Superior Court will dismiss the state's case against social media platform TikTok, Judge Lisa Adubato said in a notice Saturday.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) filed an answering brief in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday, reiterating that the bill regulating kids’ social media feeds at the center of the case is constitutional, and that plaintiff NetChoice failed to compile a record showing how the legislation would impact platforms -- including those of NetChoice members -- across the internet.