Publications: Ash Johnson

Age verification isn't a silver bullet for protecting kids online. Congress' competing proposals each solve some problems while creating others, underscoring the need for a balanced national approach.

As Congress considers a national data privacy standard, the SECURE Data Act represents a significant shift from earlier proposals. This comparison examines how it differs from the American Privacy Rights Act and the American Data Privacy and Protection Act and why those differences matter for consumers, businesses, and innovation.

Waiting for the next Congress is the wrong approach. Because neither party can pass a federal privacy law without bipartisan support, lawmakers should build on the SECURE Data Act's bipartisan, state-tested framework to enact a national privacy law that protects consumers and the economy.

Age assurance should not become a default prerequisite for accessing the Internet, but it can still hold a place in a comprehensive approach to children’s online safety.

The UK is considering new requirements for nudity-scanning software on children's devices that would further expand its controversial online safety regime. While intended to protect children, the proposal would undermine privacy, anonymity, and free speech, and the UK should instead pursue more targeted, privacy-preserving measures.

ITIF supports applicants seeking to vacate a Fifth Circuit stay that allowed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to immediately enforce Texas’s App Store Accountability Act, a law requiring app stores to implement age-verification and parental consent restrictions.

The United States’ patchwork approach to privacy is unworkable in the long term. But that patchwork is already here, and Congress can learn from the policies states have implemented to craft a national data privacy framework.

The UK should resist the urge to regulate in haste. Protecting children online is essential, but protection should mean smarter design, stronger safety tools, and greater parental control, not blanket bans that remove technology from young people and choice from families.

Critics say the SECURE Data Act is a unified Republican effort. Yet its core provisions mirror privacy protections passed by Democratic and Republican majorities in 21 states. So, while it would preempt state laws, it also draws heavily from those laws, reflecting a bipartisan, multistate consensus on how to protect consumers while enabling innovation.

A New Mexico ruling against Meta highlights how the growing patchwork of state digital regulations could fragment the U.S. internet by forcing companies to restrict or withdraw online services in certain states, underscoring the need for Congress to establish a unified federal digital policy framework.