New York state on Thursday started the process to implement two kids’ online safety laws. Attorney General Letitia James (D) released an Advanced NPRM for each. The bills are the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (Safe) for Kids Act and the Child Data Protection Act. While not part of the formal rulemaking process under the state’s administrative procedures act, the ANPRMs let the state seek information before proposing rules, the AG office said. Comments are due Sept. 30. “New Yorkers are looking to this office to protect children on social media apps and online, and the rules we are drafting will do precisely that,” James said. “By offering everyone, supporters and opponents of the recently signed legislation, the opportunity to submit comments and information, my office will ensure that we can better address concerns and priorities.” The Safe Act requires obtaining parental consent when using algorithms to sort feeds for minors, while the kids’ privacy bill bans websites from collecting and sharing minors’ personal data without informed consent. In the Safe Act ANPRM, the AG office asked about how it should identify commercially reasonable and technically feasible age-verification methods, how it should implement a parental consent mechanism and how to determine whether a social media platform is addictive. In the kids’ privacy bill ANPRM, the AG office asked about what factors are relevant to determining that a website is primarily directed at minors, young teenagers and older teens. Among many other questions, the office asked if there should be any exceptions to the definition of a data “sale” and how rules should account for “anonymized or deidentified data that could potentially still be re-linked to a specific individual.” Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) applauded the process to implement the bills she signed in June (see 2406200069). Citing the U.S. Senate's passage of two children’s internet safety bills Tuesday (see 2407300042), Hochul said, “Our efforts in New York are accelerating a national conversation on youth mental health and social media.”
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The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should lift a preliminary injunction against Mississippi’s social media age-verification law, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) argued in a filing Thursday (docket 24-60341) (see 2407290008). HB-1126 requires that social media platforms obtain parental consent to allow minors to access their services. NetChoice sued to block HB-1126 on free speech grounds and won a preliminary injunction from the U.S. District Court for Southern Mississippi on July 1 (see 2407160038). District Judge Halil Suleyman Ozerden on July 15 denied Fitch’s request to lift the injunction, finding NetChoice is likely to succeed on the merits of its First Amendment challenge. Fitch argued before the appeals court Thursday that the injunction rests on “facial claims that NetChoice failed to support.” Nothing in the law “facially” violates the First Amendment because it regulates online conduct, not online speech, said Fitch: The law’s “coverage turns on where harmful conduct toward minors online is most likely: the interactive social-media platforms that allow predators to interact with and harm children.”
“When it comes to communicating outages, social media can and should be a public utility or cable TV provider’s best friend,” a West Virginia Public Service Commission task force said Wednesday. The group reported on outage notification best practices in response to a PSC request (see 2405220049). "In the past, best practices in outage communication may have centered around emails, phone calls, and even press releases,” the report said. “Today, however, customers expect more immediate updates via text alerts, real-time outage maps, and social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (X).” Social networks are now “an absolute must-have” as they “allow for the provision of quick updates regarding the status of outage situations so customers are not left searching for relevant information.”
The Senate voted 91-3 on Tuesday to approve a pair of kids’ online safety bills, shifting attention to the House, where the legislation awaits committee consideration.
Texas received $1.4 billion from Meta Tuesday, settling claims the Facebook parent captured biometric information in violation of state law. The same day, tech industry groups sued Texas over a kids’ online safety law. NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) said the 2023 law (HB-18), which requires that social media companies verify users’ ages and get parental consent for children younger than 18, violates the First Amendment in a way similar to a 2021 Texas social media law that went to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shouldn’t stay a lower court’s decision that temporarily enjoins a Mississippi law requiring kids younger than 18 to get parental consent before accessing social media, NetChoice said at the appeals court Friday. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) appealed the U.S. District Court for Southern Mississippi preliminary injunction to the 5th Circuit earlier this month (see 2407030076 and 2407010062). The district court also denied Fitch’s request to stay that preliminary injunction (see 2407160038). Mississippi is incorrect that the law regulates conduct, not speech, NetChoice said. “The Act’s restrictions on protected speech are unconstitutional unless they survive strict scrutiny,” the tech industry group wrote. “They cannot, as the Act’s tailoring flaws preclude them from surviving any level of heightened First Amendment scrutiny. The Act restricts too much speech on too many websites where there are private alternatives to governmental regulation.”
Arkansas’ age-verification law violates the First Amendment and should be permanently enjoined, NetChoice argued Friday before the U.S. District Court for Western Arkansas in Fayetteville (docket 5:23-cv-05105). The court in August granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Social Media Safety Act (Act 689), concluding it “likely violates” the First Amendment and Due Process Clause. NetChoice said in its filing Friday that the state continues to rely on failed arguments that Act 689 is a narrowly tailored regulation of online conduct, not online speech. NetChoice argued courts have held the First Amendment can’t be evaded by regulating a “non-speech” component of a protected activity: For example, a law banning books through a restriction on the sale of ink is no less unconstitutional than a direct ban on book sales. NetChoice requested the court grant its motion for summary judgment.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper possess the best telecom policy credentials among the main contenders to be the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee, broadband advocates and other policy observers told us. All the contenders hold broadly similar views to Vice President Kamala Harris on broadband and telecom policy matters, but could bring different perspectives to the ticket, experts said in interviews last week.
The Senate voted 86-1 Thursday to advance two kids’ safety bills, with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., casting the lone no vote (see 2407240057).
The Senate should pass kids’ privacy legislation without amendments, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told us Wednesday.