More States Enact Comprehensive Privacy Legislation, Plus Experiment with Broadband, Social Media Regulation, Youth Safety, and AI

This article is part of our latest series: Major Issue Trends in 2023: State Legislative Recap. In this series, our experts examine the high-level legislative trends they saw in the 2023 state sessions. In addition to discussing the most prevalent issues considered by state policymakers, they explore some of the more surprising emerging trends we noticed, plus what to expect in 2024 for many of these policy areas. The series will be released during November and December, with new articles each week. Explore the full series here, and be sure to sign up for our email list so you don’t miss out on any articles (check the “Blog Posts” box).

Privacy legislation reached a tipping point in 2023 with seven more states passing comprehensive privacy laws, joining the five that already had laws on the books. Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Oregon, and Texas all passed major privacy bills this year that give consumers certain rights over the data collected from them by businesses.

While these states largely followed the template set by the law passed in Virginia in 2021, some states added additional consumer protections, like the consumer right to request a list of specific third parties to which a business had disclosed personal data in Oregon. Other states watered down the law with exemptions or limited scope, such as in Florida where the privacy law only applies to certain large tech companies with global revenues over one billion dollars. 

Additionally, we identified several prevalent issues in the privacy space that were addressed by policymakers during the 2023 legislative sessions, including broadband, online safety for children and teens, and social media regulation. As we look to 2024, we expect to see further discussion related to these issues, in addition to significant attention paid to artificial intelligence. 

Broadband Was A Top Issue in 2023

The pandemic laid bare some of the inequities in broadband access, and since then the federal government has worked with states to fill the gap and provide high-speed internet access to underserved communities. Despite recent efforts, the FCC found over 8 million Americans still lack access to the internet. States passed several bills this year appropriating federal funds towards broadband projects and they will have another $42.5 billion to allocate to broadband under the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program (BEAD). 

States have also sought efforts to streamline broadband projects, including “Dig-Once” policies to coordinate transportation projects with broadband installation to save money on excavation costs and other policies that would reduce bureaucracy and coordinate governments to allow projects to be completed quickly. Lawmakers also considered bills that would increase the minimum broadband speed, with some setting speed requirements of at least 100 megabits per second downstream and 20 megabits per second upstream.

Social Media Regulation (Including Large Retailers) and Technology Safety for Kids and Teens 

Social media platforms have been targeted in the past by some lawmakers over censorship concerns, but that legislation has gained little traction outside of laws passed in Florida and Texas, which are still awaiting court decisions. This year, lawmakers found more traction with bills regulating social media use by minors. Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, and Utah all passed laws to require parental consent for a minor to obtain a social media account, with many other states considering similar legislation. Utah plans to sue social media companies to address alleged harm to minors. Other states considered bills that would restrict targeted advertising or allowing direct messaging to minors on social media platforms, disclose information collected on a minor from a platform to a parent, prohibit certain features that make social media addictive, or hold social media platforms liable for harm to youths.

But it was not just social media sites that faced scrutiny from lawmakers over access from minors. Arkansas, Louisiana, Montana, Mississippi, Utah, Virginia, and Texas all passed laws to require age verification for certain sites that carry sexual content, causing some sites to cease operating in those states. Other states considered legislation that requires certain devices to give parents the option to filter obscene content. 

TikTok drew scrutiny for its ties to the Chinese government, causing many states to prohibit the app from being downloaded to government-issued devices. Montana banned the app for all residents, although the law is held up in court over free speech concerns and could prove difficult to enforce.

Outlook for 2024: Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Youth Safety, and Social Media 

While Congress continues to inch along with federal privacy legislation, states will continue to implement their own solutions, creating a patchwork of policies companies will have to navigate. But with 12 states enacting privacy laws, a general consensus has begun to form, and with several of those laws now in effect, other states may quickly follow. Tech lobbyists have notched a series of wins in states with the hopes of reaching a critical mass to influence any federal action.

Congress is moving with more urgency on legislation to protect children on the internet, which could preempt some action by state lawmakers. Regardless, expect more legislation from both sides of the aisle concerning what children are exposed to online. In addition to protecting children as consumers, states could protect children as content producers following the passage of a landmark law in Illinois that allows minors to protect their earnings from online videos.

There is also growing concern about the data mined by artificial intelligence (AI) for large learning models (LLMs). State lawmakers proposed some legislation on AI this year, but are still catching up to understand how it is used and the negative consequences it can have. Look for lawmakers to take more action next year to prohibit discrimination using AI, regulate the use of AI and algorithms for decisions in hiring, housing, issuing credit, and medical decisions, and require disclosure for the use of AI in content, particularly political advertisements. 

If the U.S. Supreme Court decides to take up cases on laws passed in Florida and Texas that restrict content moderation based on political beliefs on social media, it could open up a floodgate of similar legislation if those laws are deemed constitutional. But the ire many conservatives had at content moderation has largely subsided with Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, now known as “X.”

Tracking State Privacy Legislation 

MultiState’s team is actively identifying and tracking privacy legislation so that businesses and organizations have the information they need to navigate and effectively engage. If your organization would like to further track technology, please contact us.