State Legislators Zero in on Social Algorithms, Data Privacy

Minnesota Democrats and Republicans joined on a social media bill to regulate how platforms use algorithms to target children. Tennessee legislation to more broadly regulate social media also advanced this week. In Vermont, legislators plan to pursue data privacy next year, said House Commerce Committee Chairman Michael Marcotte (R) at a Wednesday hearing.

The Minnesota House Commerce Committee voted 15-1 Tuesday on HF-3724 to restrict social media platforms from using algorithms to drive content to kids under 18. It goes next to the Judiciary Committee. The Commerce panel’s Republican leader Rep. Tim O’Driscoll said he doesn't “know of any other bill that has drawn Republicans and Democrats closer together."

"These companies are doing immense damage to our communities and to our children,” said Chairman Zack Stephenson (D). "As the father of two young children myself, I am very determined to see that we ... take some corrective action before it is too late.” Stephenson dismissed opposition at the hearing from NetChoice, TechNet, Chamber of Progress and the Entertainment Software Association, which all warned about unintended consequences. “We really just heard from … Google and Meta and Amazon,” the chairman said. They "know the public is [wising] up to the fact that their products are doing harm to consumers, and they don't want to be associated with this."

HF-3724 author Rep. Kristin Robbins (R) was "shocked that nothing is happening on the federal level, and so I feel like we have a responsibility to get the ball rolling at the states,” she said. Robbins is especially worried about the impact of social media on girls for eating disorders, she said: The Republican doesn't want to "overregulate companies, but this is just causing so much harm.” TechNet is wrong to claim the bill could restrict universities because they and other schools are exempted under the bill, she said.

The bill may violate the First Amendment because it would "be the government restraining the distribution of speech by platforms and Minnesotans' access to that information,” said NetChoice Policy Counsel Jennifer Huddleston. But Robbins compared her bill to the U.S. Children’s Internet Protection Act, which was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court.

Harvard School of Public Health professor Bryn Austin supported HF-3724. "Social media platforms, especially image-based platforms like Instagram, can have very harmful effects on teen mental health, particularly for teens struggling with body image, anxiety, depression and eating disorders.”

Tennessee’s Senate Commerce Committee voted 7-1 Tuesday to advance a social media bill (SB-2161) to the Finance Committee. “Social media platforms are common carriers and this bill will seek to regulate common carriers through the public utilities commission,” said Sen. Bo Watson (R) at the webcast meeting. Tech groups that sued Texas and Florida over similar laws oppose the Tennessee bill. A House subcommittee was scheduled to hear its House companion HB-2369 Wednesday afternoon.

Tennessee’s House Banking and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee returned a different social media bill (HB-859) and privacy legislation (HB-1467) to the clerk rather than advance them to the full committee Wednesday. The Senate Commerce Committee killed the privacy bill’s Senate companion Tuesday (see 2203150073).

A Vermont hearing on a privacy bill (H-570) was “more for committee knowledge to better understand the pieces concerning data” and biometric data “so that we get ourselves acclimated to what we may be looking at next year as a consumer protection bill,” Marcotte said at his committee’s webcast meeting. The Vermont attorney general’s office presented on a Jan. 4 report on recommendations for privacy legislation.

The AG proposal considers other states’ bills and stakeholder feedback, said the office’s Chief of Staff Charity Clark. The AG office wants biometric data protection to include a private right of action, even though it can be controversial, said Clark. The office proposes data minimization requirements like in the California Consumer Protection Act and requiring businesses to respect do-not-track signals like in Colorado’s law, she said. Also, the AG proposal would expand Vermont’s data broker law to allow consumers to opt out, she said. The comprehensive proposal could be split into separate bills, she said.

In Maryland, the attorney general's office supported an update proposed to a state data breach law at a Senate Finance Committee hearing livestreamed Wednesday. SB-643 would strengthen the Maryland Personal Information Protection Act by adding genetic information to the definition of personal information, revising notice deadlines and streamlining information the AG office collects, said Assistant AG Hanna Abrams. It’s not a privacy bill but a “data security statute,” she said. "If you collect it, protect it." The House passed companion HB-962 in a 95-40 vote Friday.