Over the past several months, there has been a high level of activity in a number of US states to introduce new online verification laws, while other similar proposals are queued up for the current legislative session.
More:Â The 2024 Digital ID and Online Age Verification Agenda
Some of these – by and large the work of state Republicans – are submitted in the pre-filing process, allowing for bills to be introduced before the regular session.
In South Carolina, State Representative Brandon Guffey prefiled HB 3405 on January 12. The bill seeks to implement mandatory age verification by app stores, and force them to obtain parental consent before minors are allowed to download apps in this state, as well as give parents a way to block apps.
Guffey is also behind HB 340, prefiled the same day, that looks to mandate age verification on platforms providing adult content.
In Utah, State Senator Todd Weiler on January 17 introduced the App Store Accountability Act (SB 142). If made into law, SB 142 will require that app stores introduce age verification, parental consent for users found to be underage, and then share both age and consent information with developers.
They would then be required to verify age using that data.
On January 14, legislators in Wyoming introduced HB 43, which also requires age verification on sites that have content considered “harmful to minors.”
Missouri State Representative Sherri Gallick is behind HB 236 introduced in early December with the goal of forcing “reasonable” age verification implementation on “any commercial entity for which it is in the regular course of trade or business to publish or distribute material harmful to minors on the internet.”
The bill has a provision against retaining data once access has been granted.
There are two bills along the same lines in Texas – HB 581 introduced on November 12 by State Representative Mary E. Gonzalez, and HB 186 by State Representative Jaren Patterson. The first seeks to impose age verification on those entities that provide tools for creating “artificial sexual material harmful to minors” or “sexual material harmful to minors.”
The second concerns age verification to make sure users under 18 are prohibited from opening social media accounts (both contain anti-data retention provisions).
Last October, a legislative study committee in South Dakota sent two proposals to the Legislative Research Council, to be presented during the session that starts in January.
Reports at the time said these are “app or device-based age verification” proposals, the type of which is currently not enforced in any of the US states.
