Maryland Delegate Adrian Boafo (D) plans to introduce a bill during the next legislative session to protect children online, particularly from social media harms, he announced during a panel at a Family Online Safety Institute event Monday. The state lawmaker also advocated for federal legislation protecting kids online, with state measures supplementing it.
Social Media
Social media platforms are facing intense scrutiny over how they collect, share and monetize user data. As new state and federal laws focus on age verification, parental controls and transparency requirements, social media companies face legal risks around algorithmic targeting, third-party tracking and children's safety. This page follows key legislation, investigations and lawsuits shaping privacy practices for major social platforms.
TikTok must face a case accusing it of violating the Nevada Deceptive Trade Practices Act (NDTPA) by deploying addictive social media algorithms, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled Thursday, siding with an earlier district court decision.
NetChoice "will explore all available options" after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday denied the trade association's petition to rehear a case challenging the constitutionality of a California social media addiction law. The court gave no reason for its denial.
Despite having a “laudable goal,” Colorado may not enforce a law requiring mental health warning labels on social media, the U.S. District Court for Colorado ruled in case 25-cv-2538-WJM-KAS as it granted tech industry association NetChoice’s motion for preliminary injunction on Thursday.
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, Kick and Reddit meet the criteria for social media platforms that must comply with Australia's social media age restrictions starting Dec. 10, the eSafety Commissioner announced Wednesday.
Noting that many judges aren't technology experts, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Patrick Higginbotham expressed concern Monday that many legal issues are decided using court documents instead of jury trials. “One of the frustrations” that stems from long-running litigation is that “a trial judge … never got to hear the full evidence,” he said during oral argument in CCIA v. Paxton.
A federal court recently added to the split in thinking on bringing claims against website tracking tools and analytics under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA). In this situation, it dismissed a case for lack of standing after the plaintiff failed to allege a concrete injury, said Fisher Phillips lawyers in a blog post Thursday.
An appeals court in a months-long case challenging Tennessee's social-media law should approach its decision as other state courts have and reject the measure, NetChoice argued in a court document Friday.
As Ohio and NetChoice continue sparring over the constitutionality of an Ohio social media law, the state's attorney general said the trade group "waffles" between its "supposed" goal of protecting children’s First Amendment rights and its "true mission" of keeping “social-media giants free from any regulation."
The Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) can now be applied in the context of website tracking software after a recent U.S. District Court for Western Michigan ruling, according to a Fisher Phillips blog post Thursday. The court ruled that a college was subject to the federal law when it allegedly shared certain user information from its website to third parties.