The Utah House voted 64-0 on Wednesday for a bill that requires content filters when minors use tablets and smartphones. Eleven members were absent or didn’t vote. Because the House amended the bill, SB-104 must return to the Senate. Utah senators previously voted 25-3 in favor of the measure (see 2402070074). Meanwhile, lawmakers in other states advanced privacy and social media legislation this week. The West Virginia House voted 91-0 Wednesday for a consumer privacy bill (HB-5338) and sent it to the Senate. On Tuesday, the Georgia Senate voted 37-15 for another comprehensive privacy bill (SB-473), sending the measure to the House. On Monday, the Georgia Senate voted 51-1 for a measure requiring education for children about social media and the internet (SB-351). On Tuesday in Virginia, the House Commerce Committee voted 21-0 to advance a kids’ privacy bill (SB-361) that would add children-specific protections to the state’s comprehensive consumer privacy law. The Senate previously passed the bill 40-0 (see 2402120072). Also that day, the Missouri House Innovation Committee cleared HB-2141, which would prohibit state employees from using TikTok (see 2401030014). In Florida, the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee approved SB-1448 Tuesday, requiring platforms that foreign adversaries own to disclose how they curate, personalize and target content and how they address misinformation and harmful content. A House version of the bill advanced last week (see 2402220051).
If the U.S. Supreme Court blocks social media laws in Florida and Texas, it could have a chilling effect on states trying to regulate online content, a panel of experts said Tuesday. Speaking at a Federalist Society webinar event, panelists said a ruling bolstering the tech industry’s First Amendment rights could jeopardize the constitutionality of laws aimed at regulating kids’ online safety. The Supreme Court held oral argument Monday in NetChoice v. Paxton (22-555) and Moody v. NetChoice (22-277) (see 2402260051).
It’s possible social media platforms could be considered common carriers when delivering emails or direct messages, the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative justices said Monday.
Florida’s proposed social media ban for kids younger than 16 will head to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). The House voted 108-7 Thursday to concur with Senate changes to HB-1, which also would require age verification to block kids less than 18 from pornography online. DeSantis said he has concerns about the bill restricting parents from allowing kids to have social media accounts (see 2402220051). The Senate passed HB-1 by a 23-14 vote earlier Thursday.
Expect a U.S. Supreme Court majority to side with the tech industry in its content moderation fight against social media laws in Florida and Texas, experts told us in interviews last week.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) isn’t ready to ban children younger than 16 from using social media without an opportunity for parental override, he said Thursday. This puts him at odds with many of his state's Republican lawmakers. Earlier in the day, Florida's Senate voted 23-14 to approve HB-1, which would require that websites verify potential users' ages, preventing kids younger than 16 from using social media and stop those younger than 18 from accessing pornography. Many, but not all, Democratic state senators opposed the bill. Later on the floor, senators joined House members in unanimously supporting another measure extending a $1 promotion for broadband attachments through 2028.
Minnesota legislators on Wednesday advanced an age-appropriate design bill modeled after a California law that was recently deemed unconstitutional.
Florida senators unanimously supported joining other states that designate mobile phone providers as eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) for the federal Lifeline program. On the floor Wednesday, senators voted 37-0 to pass a bill (SB-478) that would transfer wireless ETC designation powers from the FCC to the Florida Public Service Commission. Later, senators debated a bill (HB-1) that would override parents and ban all kids younger than 16 from getting social media accounts.
The Arizona Senate narrowly passed a bill requiring age verification to protect minors from harmful content online. Senators voted 16-12 Monday to send SB-1125 to Arizona's House. The bill would require websites with pornographic content to verify that users are at least 18, including by comparing IP addresses with a blacklist. Parents could request that their kids be added to the blacklist; ISPs “shall not be under any obligation to confirm” that the requesting internet user “has a minor child,” it said. CTIA in a Jan. 29 letter opposed the bill as technically unworkable. The current bill “misunderstands how IP addresses are used within the internet ecosystem and their infeasibility for identification and age verification,” the wireless association wrote. IP addresses change over time and can be “easily overridden through widely available tools like proxy servers and virtual private networks,” it said. “SB 1125 would impose incredible burdens on ISPs to create an unviable blacklist framework. The regulatory onus should instead be on the content providers that knowingly create and distribute the harmful content to use viable commercial age assurance mechanisms." Also Monday, the Arizona House Appropriations Committee voted 12-0 for a kids' privacy bill (HB-2858) that would prohibit minors younger than 16 from using social media platforms without parental consent. In addition, it would prohibit users older than 18 from sending messages on social media to younger users.
Petitioners Maurine and Matthew Molak want the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to “disregard the statutory requirement” under Communications Act Section 405(a) that persons who weren’t parties before the FCC file a petition for reconsideration as a “condition precedent” to seeking judicial review, said the FCC and DOJ reply Friday (docket 23-60641) in support of their motion to dismiss the Molaks’ petition (see 2402070002).