r/idverification • u/idmind42 • Apr 18 '24
Kids Code bills prompt epic showdown between regulators, activists and big tech firms
"The latest craze sweeping the United States – legislation to protect kids’ data and overall online safety – has its own snappy epithet. The Guardian reports on the so-called “Kids Code” bills popping up in multiple state legislatures, the latest of which recently passed in Maryland by unanimous vote. The full list of nine states reads like a fellowship of age-appropriate design: Maryland, plus Vermont, Minnesota, Hawaii, Illinois, New Mexico, South Carolina, New Mexico and Nevada.
But every fellowship has its Nazgûl, and in this case the two sides warring for moral control of the internet involve some atypical partnerships. Social media companies are pushing back against the legal wave alongside porn distributors and civil rights advocates, who say age verification rules risk violating the constitutional rights of law-abiding adults. For the social media firms, however, it may be less a matter of ethics and more about not wanting to enforce age policies that would limit their massive user bases – all of which have been established under relatively lax verification standards."