Cases of Note

DALLAS - A Texas law requiring parental consent for children to create a social media account is now in effect partially. "Parents would be given the authority to consent to the platforms their children interact with online," said North Texas Republican Rep. Shelby Slawson, who authored House bill 18 that Gov. Greg Abbott signed in 2023. The SCOPE Act or   the Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment Act is a piece of U.S. legislation introduced to enhance consumer protections against harmful online practices. The act is primarily focused on regulating online platforms and marketplaces to prevent deceptive or dangerous product listings. It is part of a growing wave by lawmakers in multiple states to give more power to parents when it comes to their children’s digital footprint. In a committee hearing last year, Slawson described wide-ranging threats from unmonitored social media use, including cyberbullying and child predators. "A Texas teenager was rescue

Bill Summary Existing law generally regulates a social media platform, including by requiring a social media platform to clearly and conspicuously state whether it has a mechanism for reporting violent posts that is available to users and nonusers of the social media platform and to include a link to that reporting mechanism, as prescribed. Senate Bill 918 would require a social media platform to, at all times, make available by telephone to a law enforcement agency a law enforcement liaison for the purpose of receiving, and responding to, requests for information. The bill would would, except as prescribed, also require a social media platform to immediately comply with a search warrant provided to the social media platform by a law enforcement agency if the subject of the search warrant is an account on the social media platform owned by a user of the social media platform. Permits a person to seek an order requiring a social media platform to remove content that includes an offer t

Assembly Bill  2390  Social Media Harm Reduction Pilot Program Summary This bill establishes the Social Media Harm Reduction Pilot Program and would require the California Health and Human Services Agency to designate a nonprofit organization to undertake the responsibilities of the program. The responsibilities include recommending statewide standards for the use of online social networks by kindergarten and grades 1 to 12 pupils, inclusive, and would require the program to coordinate with existing laws regulating social media platforms to ensure consistency and avoid duplication of effort until December 31, 2029. The  Social Media Harm Reduction Pilot Program  enacts the following: 1) Establishes the Social Media Harm Reduction Pilot Program (program). Requires the California  Health and Human Services Agency to designate a nonprofit organization to undertake the responsibilities of the program. 2) Requires the program to: a) Develop model educational materials and methods to leverag

The Maryland Legislature this weekend passed two sweeping privacy bills that aim to restrict how powerful tech platforms can harvest and use the personal data of consumers and young people — despite strong objections from industry trade groups representing giants like Amazon, Google and Meta. The  Maryland Online Data Privacy Act , would impose wide-ranging restrictions on how companies may collect and use the personal data of consumers in the state. The other, the  Maryland Kids Code , would prohibit certain social media, video game and other online platforms from tracking people under 18 and from using manipulative techniques — like auto-playing videos or bombarding children with notifications — to keep young people glued online. “We are making a statement to the tech industry, and to Marylanders, that we need to rein in some of this data gathering,” said Delegate  Sara Love,  a Democratic member of the Maryland House of Delegates. Ms. Love, who sponsored the consumer bill and cospon

  Monday’s Supreme Court showdown in  NetChoice v. Paxton  and  Moody v. NetChoice  will determine whether states can forbid social media companies from blocking or removing user content that goes against platform rules. The state laws at issue also allow individuals to sue tech companies for alleged violations. The Florida and Texas laws are loosely written, but officials from both states say the laws will keep social media sites from unfairly muting conservatives and others. Social media platforms have insisted for years that they don’t discriminate against right-wing speech. Signed in 2021 by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida’s  SB 7072  prohibits tech platforms from suspending or banning the accounts of political candidates in the state, with violations carrying steep possible fines of up to $250,000 per day. It also allows individual social media users to sue platforms if they believe they have been unfairly censored or “deplatformed.” The Texas law, signed in 2021 by Gov. Greg Abbott, m

Feb. 6, 2024 -- For many legitimate reasons, social media is often high on a parent's list of digital concerns. From online predators to privacy, there's genuinely a lot of questionable; stuff for children and teens to navigate. Enjoying social media wisely can also give kids a sense of connection, fun, and creativity. If a caregiver is involved in a kid's digital life, it prepares them for how to handle negative online situations. Talks about protecting privacy and being kind can go a long way toward a more positive social media experience. And if kids can avoid endless scrolling and comparing themselves to others, and instead focus on friendship and creativity, it may actually give them a boost instead of being a downer. Recently, U.S. lawmakers have accused Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and four other big tech bosses of having "blood on (their) hands"; allegations have surfaced that up to 100,000 children a day using Facebook and Instagram in 2022 were exposed to