The Free Speech Coalition has called on Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs to veto AZ’s dangerous and unconstitutional age-verification law for adult consumers. In a letter sent hours after the passage of the law on Monday, FSC Executive Director Alison Boden pointed out that despite our support for measures that would actually protect children, HH2586 would not only violate First Amendment and privacy rights, it would harm young peoples’ access to much-needed information. Read our full statement here and the Free Speech Coalition letter here.

Earlier this week, FSC and our co-plaintiffs sought a stay from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to pause Texas' enforcement of their age verification law while we petitioned for Supreme Court review. Unfortunately, the motion was denied, allowing Texas to enforce the law temporarily. Despite this setback, Judge Higginbotham's dissent, highlighting potential conflicts with Supreme Court precedent and likely unconstitutionality, provides hope. We remain steadfast in our commitment to defending the rights of our members, the adult industry, workers, and Texans' access to legal speech without government interference. Read more here.

On March 25th, Florida Governor DeSantis signed into law HB3, an age-verification bill that requires any site with 33.3% “material harmful to minors” to verify the age and identity of every visitor. The bill also bans minors under the age of 14 from having social media accounts – effectively requiring age-verification of any Floridian with a social media account. Read more here.

FSC took proactive steps by submitting a letter to the Tennessee House Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee ahead of the scheduled hearing on HB 1614, expressing concerns about its potentially conflicting age verification requirements with the state's privacy legislation. The bill proposes significant penalties for non-compliance and acknowledges the substantial financial burden it imposes on affected websites. Tennesseans are encouraged to voice their opposition to this and other age verification bills in the state. Read more here.

The Kansas state legislature has approved a bill mandating age-verification on websites hosting content deemed "harmful to minors," including material related to LGBTQ+ topics. The law requires users to provide government-issued identification to access adult content, with potential fines of up to $10,000 per instance of underage access. Concerns have been raised about the impact on LGBTQ+ resources and privacy, as the bill awaits approval from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. Read more on Advocate.

In recent months, several US states, including Texas and Louisiana, have implemented laws requiring age verification for accessing online adult content, while others like Florida consider restrictions on underage social media access. These measures compel platforms to collect user IDs or implement third-party age verification, raising concerns about privacy and access to LGBTQ+ content. Consequently, there has been a surge in VPN usage as users seek to bypass these restrictions, prompting potential legal and constitutional challenges and drawing attention from lawmakers. Read more on Popular Science.

Stay informed about the latest in privacy and data security with the FTC's 2023 Privacy and Data Security Update. The update covers a range of topics including enforcement actions, rulemakings, and policy initiatives related to consumer protection in areas such as artificial intelligence, health privacy, data security, and credit reporting.