Social Media Age Verification Laws In The United States

In 2022 California passed The California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act or AB 2273 which requires websites that are likely to be used by minors to estimate visitors ages to give them some amount of privacy control and on March 23, 2023, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed SB 152 and HB 311 collective known as the Utah Social Media Regulation Act which requires age verification and if they are under 18 they have to get parental consent before making an account on any social media platform. Since then multiple bills have been introduced or passed in multiple states however very few gone into effect mainly due to court challenges including both laws in California and Utah.

Social Media Age Verification Laws

Arkansas

On April 11, 2023, The Governor of Arkansas Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed SB 396 also known as The Social Media Safety Act. The law requires certain social media that make over 100 million dollars per year to verify the age of new users by a third party and if they are under 18 years of age to get parental consent before being an account holder. It excludes platforms that social media company that allows a user to generate short video clips of dancing, voice overs, or other acts of entertainment in which the primary purpose is not educational or informative, it also excludes interactive and virtual games. The law was set to go in effect in September 2023 and is enforced by the attorney general of Arkansas.

On June 29, 2023 The Trade Association NetChoice would sue the Attorney Genral of Arkansas Tim Griffin to The Western District Court of Arkansas to block him from being able to enforce the law. Later on July 7, 2023, NetChoice would file its motion for a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of the law. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Fontier Foundation would file a brief in the lawsuit in support of NetChoice. On July 27, 2023, Tim Griffin and Tony Allen would file briefs in opposition to the preliminary injunction. A hearing for the preliminary injunction would be held on August 15, 2023, the judge for the hearing was Timothy L. Brooks. The Preliminary Injunction was later granted by Judge Timothy L. Brooks on August 31, 2023 with his reasoning being that the law was too vague and that Netchoice's members will suffer irreparable harm if the act goes into effect and that age-gating social media platforms for adults and minors didn't appear to be an effective approach.

California

California Age-Appropriate Design Code (AB 2273)

On September 15, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2273 also known as The California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act or CAADCA. The most controversial parts of the law were that it requires online services that are likely to be used by children which is defined as anyone under 18 years of age to estimate the age of child users with a "reasonable level of certainty". It also requires theses online services to fill out Data Protection Impact Assessments or DPIAs to the attorney general of California with one of the DPIA requirements being wither or not an online product, service, or feature could harm children, including by exposing children to harmful, or potentially harmful, content on the online product, service, or feature. the law doesn't define what content is harmful or potentially harmful to minors. Before the law took effect the Electronic Fontier Foundation sent a veto request to Gavin Newsom against him to veto the bill before it became law.

On December 14, 2022 NetChoice would file a lawsuit against Rob Bonta who is the attorney general of California to The District Court for the Northern District of California. After this on September 18, 2023, Federal Judge Beth Labson Freeman granted a preliminary injunction against the law blocking it from taking effect. The law was appealed to the 9th Circuit on October 23, 2023. The 9th Circuit would later on August 16, 2024, affirm the injunction against the DPIA section of the law and would send the rest of the law back down to the district court because the argument in the 9th circuit was mainly focused on the DPIA section of the law such as its "dark patterns" section.

Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act (SB 976)

On September 20, 2024, Gavin Newsom signed SB 976 or Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act. The law requires online platforms to not give anyone under 18 years of age an "addictive" feed unless they have verified parental consent. It also requires online platforms to not send notifications to someone under 18 between 12:00 am and 6:00 am any day without parental consent or between 8:00 am - 3:00 pm without parental consent between the months of September and May, however the law doesn't define what a "notification" is. The law's rule making and enforcement is by The attorney general of California and is set to take effect on January 1, 2027.

Florida

On January 5, 2024, Tylor Sirois would introduce HB 1 which would ban anyone under 16 from using any social media platform and would require platforms to verify the age of users to make sure they weren't under 16. Right after the bill passed the Florida State House The American Civil Liberties Union would make a blog post being in opposition to the bill claiming the bill violates the rights of minor and adults. The law would later be vetoed by the governor of Florida Ron DeSantis on March 1, 2024, claiming that the State Legislature was going to enact a "superior" bill to HB 1. The "superior" Bill was HB 3 which decreased the minimum age from 16 to 14 and allowed minors aged 14 and 15 to make social media accounts with parental consent it later signed on March 25, 2024, and is expected to make effect in January 2025.

On October 28, 2024, The Trade Associations NetChoice and Computer and Communications Industry Association would file a lawsuit against the law. The Judge for the case is Mark E. Walker.

Georgia

On April 23, 2024, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed SB 351 into law which became Act 463 after signing it. Act 463 requires platforms to verify the age of users of social media platforms and if that user is under 16 years of age that must have parental consent before making an account, it also requires schools to ban all social media platforms including YouTube. Before the law was signed The Trade Assocation NetChoice would send a veto request to The Governor of Georgia claiming the law was unconstitutional and was bad policy. After the bill was signed the American Civil Liberties Union and NetChoice criticized the bill.

Louisiana

Secure Online Child Interaction and Age Limitation Act (SB 162)

On June 28, 2023, John Bel Edwards signed SB 162 also known as the Secure Online Child Interaction and Age Limitation Act. It requires social media platforms to verify the age of users and if that user is under 16 to get parental consent before they can be an account holder and prohibits account holders under 16 from messaging adults on the service unless they are already connected, display of advertising based on user data, The collection or use of personal information from the posts, content, messages, text, or usage activities of the account other than what is necessary. A parent or guardian of a user under 16 can doing the following view privacy settings of the minor's account, set daily time limits for the service, schedule breaks, and offer the minor the option to set up parental notifications when the minor reports a person or issue.

The law defines social media platform as the following, connects users in order to allow users to interact socially with each other within the service, construct a public or semipublic profile for purposes of signing into and using the service, populate a list of other users with whom an individual shares a social or virtual connection within the system, including subscribing to content related to another user, create or post content viewable by other users, including but not limited to, on message boards, in chat rooms, on video channels, or through a landing page or main feed that presents the user with content generated by other users. The bill excludes online email, video games, streaming services, news, sports, and entertainment as long as the content isn't user generated. The bill is enforced and guided by the Department of Justice of Louisiana and it took effect on July 1, 2024.

HB 61

on June 28, 2023, John Bel Edwards signed HB 61 the same day he signed SB 162 the law requires parental consent for anyone under 18 before making an account on an "interactive computer service" and it took effect on August 1, 2024.

NetChoice would make a testimony being in opposition against both laws and would send a veto request for HB 61, however they have yet to sue the state of Louisiana over them.

Mississippi

On April 30, 2024, Tate Reeves who is the Governor of Mississippi signed HB 1126 also known as The Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act.

Section 4 of the law requires "digital service providers" to make a commercially reasonable effort to verify the age of anyone who wants to make an account in the state of Mississippi and if that user is under 18, they must have consent from a parent or guardian.

Section 5 of the law requires digital service providers to limit collection of the known minor's personal data, collect a minor's geolocation data, display targeted advertising involving harmful material to the known minor.

Section 6 of the law requires digital service providers to "prevent and mitigate" which is "​consistent with evidence-informed medical information", the law defines harmful material minors as the following self-harm, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and suicidal behaviors as well as patterns of use that indicate or encourage substance abuse or use of illegal drugs, stalking, physical violence, online bullying, or harassment, grooming, trafficking, child pornography, or other sexual exploitation or abuse Incitement of violence; or any other illegal activity.

On June 7, 2024, The Trade Association NetChoice sued the Attorney General of Mississippi Lynn Flitch to the Southern District Court of Mississippi to block her from being able to enforce the law before it took effect on July 1st of the same year. On June 18, 2024 The Electronic Fontier Foundation filed a brief in the case in favor of NetChoice for a Preliminary Injunction. The state of Mississippi would file its brief in opposition to NetChoice's motion for a Preliminary Injunction on June 18, 2024, the same day when the Electronic Fontier Foundation filed its brief in support of NetChoice. On June 21, 2024, NetChoice filed its reply brief to Mississippi's opposition brief. Later on July 1, 2024, Federal Judge Halil Suleyman Ozerden granted NetChoice's motion for a Preliminary Injunction against the law blocking it from going into effect.

New York

On June 20, 2024, The Governor of New York Kathy Hochul signed S7694A or the SAFE For Kids Act into law. The law requires operators to use age determination technology on users and not to give "addictive" feeds to anyone under 18 years of age unless they have parental consent. It also requires operators to not send notifications to a minors account between 12:00 AM - 6:00 AM Eastern Standard Time unless they have verified parental consent. The law takes effect 180 days after the Attorney General of New York promulgates rules and regulations on how to follow the law, the penalty for violating the law is a fine up to 5,000 dollars per violation.

The law has been criticized by the Electronic Fontier Foundation and NetChoice because the law requires age verification, however neither the Electronic Fontier Foundation nor NetChoice has yet sued New York over the law yet.

Ohio

On July 4, 2023, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed HB 33 which was the bill for the fiscal years of 2024-2025 in Ohio a part of that bill was the Social Media Parental Notification Act which requires online gaming and social media platforms that are likely to be used by minors under 16 and requires users under 16 years of age to have verified parental consent before they can making a contract on a social media or online gaming platform and was going to take effect on January 15, 2024, the law is enforced by the Attorney General of Ohio. Mike DeWine and Jon Husted both advocated for the law to be added in the fiscal years 2024-2025 bill.

On January 5, 2024, NetChoice sued Dave Yost, who is the Attorney General of Ohio to the Southern District Court of Ohio claiming the law was unconstitutionally vague and was in violation of the First Amendment and Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Four days later after NetChoice make its complaint on January 9, 2024, Chief Judge Algenon L. Marbley granted a Temporary Restraining Order, temporally blocking the law from going into effect. On January 19, 2024 Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted filed a brief in opposition to a Preliminary Injunction against the law claiming that the law protects the welfare of minors, protected minors from mental health issues as well as the privacy of minors and protecting them from predators and that Ohio had a compelling government interest in the law. NetChoice on January 26, 2024, filed another brief in the support of a Preliminary Injunction. The Attorney General of Ohio made a brief replying to NetChoice's brief in support of a Preliminary Injunction.

On February 7, 2024, a hearing was held for NetChoice's motion for a Preliminary Injunction against the law. 5 days later after the hearing on February 12, 2024, Chief Judge Algenon L. Marbley granted NetChoice's motion for a Preliminary Injunction.

Tennessee

On May 2, 2024, Tennesse Governor Bill Lee signed HB 1891 also known as the Protecting Kids From Social Media Act. The law requires social media companies to verify by a third party the age of all users within 14 days of them attempting to access an existing account and if the person attempting to access that account is under 18 years of age, then they must get parental consent. Parenta are allowed to view privacy settings on the account, set daily time restrictions, and implement breaks during which the minor cannot access the account of account holders under 18. The law takes effect January 1, 2025, and is enforced by the Attorney General of Tennesse.

On October 3, 2024, The Trade Association NetChoice sued Tennesse Attorney General Johnathan Skrmetti to The Middle District Court of Tennessee. The case is still wanting a decision in the District Court and Chief Judge William L. Campbell Jr is assigned to the case.

Texas

On June 13, 2023, Texas Governor signed HB 18 also known as The SCOPE Act. The law requires minors under 18 to have verified consent from a parent or guardian. Section 509.101 of bill requires that this verification should be done by using a commercially reasonable method.

In Section 509.052 of the law Minors aren't allowed to make purchases or engage in other financial and digital service providers aren't allowed to collect the known minor's precise geolocation or display targeted advertising to the known minor.

Section 509.053 of the law requires digital service providers are required to prevent the known minor's exposure to harmful material and other content that promotes, glorifies, or facilitates the following suicide, self-harm, or eating disorders; substance abuse; stalking, bullying, or harassment; or grooming, trafficking, child pornography, or other sexual exploitation or abuse.

The bill was criticized by the Chamber of Progress because the bill required platforms to filter out "grooming" content which could be used to censor LGBTQ content and claim that the bill with have an isolating effect on LGBTQ Minors.

On July 30, 2024, the Computer and Communications Industry Association and NetChoice would sue Ken Paxton who is the Attorney General of Texas in the Western District Court of Texas.

Later on, August 16, 2024, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression helped four plaintiffs sue Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as well.

On August 30, 2024, Federal Judge Robert Pitman would grant Computer and Communications Industry Association and NetChoice a Preliminary Injunction against the laws "harmful to minors" section of it.

Utah

On March 23, 2023, Utah's Governor Spencer Cox signed SB 152 and HB 311 collective known as the Utah Social Media Regulation Act. SB 152 requires social media platforms with at least 5 million accounts worldwide to verify the age of all account holders and if they are under 18, they must have consent from a parent or guardian and the parent or guardian of a minor is allowed to view all their post and messages sent to them. SB 152 also prohibits direct messaging between other users if that user hasn't been linked to the account already as well as display targeted advertising to minors, it also requires that between 10:30 AM - 6:30 PM Mountain Standard Time a minor cannot access social media.

HB 311 creates a private right of action for parents to sue social media companies from causing "addiction" and harm to minors with a rebuttable that if the minor was under 16 that the social media platform actually caused the harm.

On December 18, 2023, The Trade Association NetChoice sued Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes and Katherine Hass arguing the law was preempted by federal law, unconstitutionally vague and was in violation of the First Amendment and Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, two days later on December 20, 2023 NetChoice filed made a request for a Preliminary Injunction against the law. Shortly after the case started Sean Reyes announced to the court on January 19, 2024, that the laws effective date was delayed from March 2024 to October 2024 and that they would appeal and replace the law, the hearing would have happened on February 12, 2024, if the law wasn't delayed.

The bills that amended the Utah Social Media Regulation Act were SB 194 and HB 464 and were signed on March 13, 2024. the amendments removed the 10:30 pm - 6:30 pm and changed it that parental consent would only happen if a minor changed their privacy settings, it also replaced the age verification to age assurance that was at least 95% accurate.

NetChoice would make an updated complaint and motion for a Preliminary Injunction against the amendments on May 3, 2024. The state of Utah would make its brief in opposition to the Preliminary Injunction on May 31, 2024. On July 22, 2024, Chief Judge Robert J Shelby would grant in part the states motion to dismiss saying that the law didn't violate Section 230 and there for wasn't preempted by federal law. However later on September 10, 2024 NetChoice's motion for a Preliminary Injunction would be granted anyway by Robert J Shelby.

Proposed Legislation

Alaska

On January 16, 2024, The Alaska Legislature introduced HB 271 also known as the Alaska Social Media Regulation Act. The law requires social media platforms verify the age of users and if that user is under 18 years of age they must have consent from a parent before they can make an account, and this parental consent can be revoked at any time as seen Section 45.50.650 of the bill.

Section 45.50.670 of the bill prohibits an online platform from displaying, sending, or targeting an advertisement to a minor user or using data collected from a minor user for advertising purposes.

Section 45.50.680 of the bill prohibits an online platform from using an algorithm, artificial intelligence, machine learning, or other technology to select, recommend, rank, or personalize content for a minor user based on the minor user's profile, preferences, behavior, location, or other data.

Section 45.50.690 of the bill prohibits an online platform from may not employ a feature, design, or mechanism that encourages or rewards a minor user's excessive or compulsive use of the platform or that exploits the psychological vulnerabilities of a minor.

Section 45.50.700 of the bill sets up curfew for minors where they cannot use the platform between 10:30 pm - 6:30 am Alaska Standard Time.

The bill is enforced by a private right of action and by the Attorney General of Alaska.

The bill had its first reading on January 16, 2024, and was referred to the Labor & Commerce and Judiciary Committee, however didn't progress any further in the Legislator and died in committee.