The U.S. District Court for Northern Florida on Thursday denied a Computer and Communications Industry Association motion for a preliminary injunction against a state kids social media bill. CCIA failed to show likelihood of standing, the court said.
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.
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.
Utah could soon add a right to correct inaccurate information to its comprehensive privacy law. The Utah legislature Thursday passed HB-418, which would also require social media data portability and interoperability (see 2502280057).
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.