State AGs Again Urge Action To Protect Kids From Tech And AI Risks

Last week, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson proclaimed, "[i]f Congress won't protect kids from Big Tech, states will." State AGs from 27 states, led by the Utah Attorney General's office, submitted an amicus brief in the Computer & Communications Industry Association, et al. v. James Uthmeier case on appeal before the Eleventh Circuit. In that case, the plaintiff challenges the legality of Florida's content moderation law, H.B.3 aka Florida Statute § 501.1736, which was enacted to prohibit certain social media platforms with "addictive features" from providing accounts to children 13 and younger and from providing accounts to children ages 14-15 without parental consent. The lower court blocked Florida from enforcing the law, finding that the law implicates the First Amendment yet fails the intermediate scrutiny test because it burdens protected speech of under 16 year olds "despite the availability...of substantially less burdensome alternatives." In