Washington – The Computer & Communications Industry Association released a comprehensive report today examining the wave of content moderation and online safety legislation that was considered in state legislation sessions around the country in 2024. The report identifies troubling trends in well-meaning but flawed proposals that, if enacted in the future, would erode privacy protections, stifle free speech, and impose costly compliance burdens on businesses.
The report analyzes legislative efforts across states including California, Florida, Louisiana, Minnesota, New York, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia. Key provisions of the proposed legislation included mandatory age verification, age-appropriate design codes, and device-level content filters. While aimed at protecting children online, these proposals often conflicted with established legal frameworks and practical approaches to online safety.
CCIA’s report urges lawmakers to shift their focus toward practical solutions that address actual risk, prioritize privacy, target specific harms, and avoid blanket regulations that would create more problems than they solve. Proposals should also avoid creating a patchwork of state regulations that disrupt businesses and impose costly litigation risks on taxpayers.
Age verification laws, for example, would require businesses to collect sensitive personal data like geolocation and identification documents, significantly increasing privacy risks for both children and adults. Similarly, mandates for content removal and reporting could lead to over-moderation, suppressing constitutionally protected speech while failing to address the root causes of harmful material online.
The following can be attributed to CCIA Vice President, Federal Affairs Brian McMillan:
“Protecting children online is a critical goal that policymakers and industry share, but the approach matters. Many of these state-level proposals pose serious risks to privacy, free expression, and online innovation. Instead of implementing laws that are impractical and overly broad, legislators should prioritize solutions that address specific harms while ensuring clear, consistent protections for all users. As the new state legislative sessions start, we urge lawmakers to prioritize proposals that are better tailored to the goals, and don’t conflict with federal law.”
