U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Online Transparency and Fairness Act On October 1, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a critical emergency injunction that effectively halted the enforcement of the Online…
Texas Age Verification Law Upheld: U.S. Supreme Court Balances Free Speech and Child Protection in the Digital Age | Data Matters Privacy Blog
On June 27, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, a groundbreaking decision with significant implications for online content regulation. The Court upheld […]
U.S. Social Media Regulations for Minors
The digital lives of American children and teenagers have become a focal point of intense national debate and legislative action. ContentsThe Federal Foundation: The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)The State-Level Surge: A Patchwork of New RulesThe Next Generation of Federal Law: Congress Weighs InThe Constitutional Crossroads: Free Speech vs. State RegulationThe Great Debate: Voices […]
Online Safety Bills Are Fueling a New Wave of Internet Censorship
State and federal bills seek to limit minors’ access to social media, but civil liberties advocates warn that the resulting online censorship threatens constitutional rights without delivering real safety.
CURTIS, KELLY INTRODUCE ALGORITHM ACCOUNTABILITY ACT
Senators Curtis and Kelly introduced legislation to modernize online protections and hold social media companies accountable for harms caused by content pushed by their algorithmic feeds. The bill, the Algorithm Accountability Act, amends Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 to impose a duty of care on the companies that utilize recommendation-based algorithms.
Site Blocking and Age Verification for Twitter, Instagram, Snap and Twitch?: Age Verification Lobby Confirms it Wants Bill S-210 to Cover All Social Media Sites - Michael Geist
Bill S-210 - the Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act - burst onto the public scene late last year as a majority of the House voted for the bill at second reading, sending it to the Public Safety committee for review. The bill, which is the brainchild of Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne, was supported by the Conservatives, Bloc and NDP with a smattering of votes from backbench Liberal MPs (the cabinet voted against, signalling it is not supported by the government). The bill raises significant concerns with the prospect of government-backed censorship, mandated age verification to use search engines or social media, and a framework for court-ordered website blocking (I appeared before the Senate committee that studied by the bill in February 2022, arguing that “by bringing together website blocking, face recognition technologies, and stunning overbreadth that would capture numerous mainstream services, the bill isn’t just a slippery slope, it is an avalanche.”). In response to the public criticism of the bill, Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne has suggested that concerns about it extending to general purpose social media sites is overstated since the intent is to target adult content sites. Yet that is not what the bill provides as it applies to anyone who makes sexually explicit material available on the Internet for commercial purposes:
Banning under-16s won’t fix social media
The toxic ecosystem we have today can be better addressed with competition than regulation
“Age limits on social media are a dead end”
Public authorities should focus on regulating algorithms and imposing stricter controls on data collection instead, argues researcher.
Big Tech tried to get young people addicted. Now we’re fighting back
Two seismic court decisions in the US have intervened where legislators have failed to defend social media users from exploitation, writes campaigner Zamaan Qureshi
Long Live the Web: A Call for Continued Open Standards and Neutrality
The Web is critical not merely to the digital revolution but to our continued prosperity—and even our liberty. Like democracy itself, it needs defending
Social Media Ban Repository – information labs
Is a ban a plan? Academics, rights organisations, and policymakers across Europe and beyond are warning against blanket social media bans for minors.
Opinion | An Online Loophole That Promotes Violence
Section 230 shouldn’t preclude liability for algorithms that push harmful content.
Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024
The Online Safety Amendment Act 2024 is an Australian act of parliament that prohibits minors under the age of 16 from holding an account on certain social media platforms. It is an amendment to the Online Safety Act 2021 and was passed by the Parliament of Australia on 29 November 2024. It imposes monetary penalties on social media companies that fail to take reasonable steps to prevent minors under 16 that are located in Australia from having accounts on their services.
Trump’s DHS is using an obscure law to secretly snoop on journalists, non-profits and unions: ‘It’s outrageous’
Even after judges rejected the same ploy, the Trump administration is going directly to social media and telecommunications companies
How do you solve a problem like social media? Part I
It's all well and good saying we should regulate social media. But social media is already regulated. So why is it failing? And what could we do in response?
Digital Driver’s Licenses Threaten to Create a “Great Internet Lockdown” | ACLU
Two trends threaten the creation of a bureaucratic wall between Americans and the information they have a right to access
Supreme Court Upholds Age Verification: A Game-Changer for Child Online Safety Laws – Public Interest Privacy Center