The Maryland Legislature this weekend passed two sweeping privacy bills aimed at limiting how powerful tech platforms can collect and use the personal data of consumers and youth — despite strong objections from trade groups of the industry representing giants such as Amazon, Google and Meta.
One bill, the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act, would impose sweeping restrictions on how companies can collect and use the personal data of consumers in the state. The other, the Maryland Kids Code, would prohibit certain social media, video games and other online platforms from tracking people under 18 and using manipulative techniques — such as auto-playing videos or bombarding kids with notifications — to keep young buddies on Internet.
“We’re making a statement to the tech industry and to the people of Maryland that we need to rein in some of this data collection,” said Representative Sara Love, a Democrat in the Maryland House of Delegates. Ms. Love, who sponsored the consumer bill and co-sponsored the children’s bill, described the passage of the two measures as a “huge” milestone for privacy, adding: “We need to put some guardrails in place to protect our consumers”.
The new rules require approval from Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, who has not taken a public position on the measures.
With the passage of the bills, Maryland joins a small number of states, including California, Connecticut, Texas and Utah, that have enacted both comprehensive privacy legislation and safeguards for children’s online or media privacy of social network. But the tech industry has challenged some of the new laws.
Over the past year, NetChoice, a tech industry trade group representing Amazon, Google and Meta, has successfully sued to stop children’s online privacy or social media restrictions in several states, arguing that the laws violated its members’ constitutional rights to the free distribution of information.
NetChoice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Maryland’s Children’s Code is based on a 2022 California law called the Age-Based Design Code Act. Like the California law, the Maryland bill would require some social media and video game platforms to enable the highest default privacy settings for minors. It would also prohibit services from unnecessarily profiling minors and collecting their exact locations.
A federal judge in California, however, temporarily blocked that state’s children’s code law, ruling in favor of NetChoice on free speech grounds. (The New York Times and the Student Press Law Center filed a joint friend-of-the-court brief last year in the California case in support of NetChoice, arguing that the law could limit the worthwhile content available to students.)
NetChoice has also opposed the Maryland Kids Code. In testimony last year opposing an earlier version of the bill, Carl Szabo, NetChoice’s general counsel, argued that it violates the rights of companies to freely distribute information as well as the rights of minors and adults to receive information freely.
Maryland lawmakers say they have since worked with constitutional experts and amended it to address free speech concerns. The bill passed unanimously.
“We’re technically the second state to pass a Children’s Code,” said Rep. Jared Solomon, a Democratic state lawmaker who sponsored the children’s code bill. “But we hope to be the first state to withstand the inevitable legal challenge that we know is coming.”
Several other tech industry trade groups have strongly opposed the other bill passed Saturday, the Maryland Online Data Protection Act.
This bill would require companies to minimize the data they collect about online consumers. It would also prohibit online services from collecting or sharing personal information — such as data about nationality, religion, health, sexual orientation, precise location, biometrics or immigration status — unless it is “strictly necessary” .
