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.

The TRUMP AMERICA AI Act combines AI regulation with children’s online safety legislation in a single bill, creating overbroad, ill-suited policies that increase compliance burdens and ultimately weaken both innovation and effective protection of minors. These issues should be addressed separately with targeted approaches.

App store–level age verification laws pose privacy, security, and free-speech risks while leaving websites unregulated, whereas device-level, opt-in parental controls offer a more comprehensive and safer way to protect children online.

Watch now for an expert panel discussion on the current state of federal privacy negotiations and the path forward for Congress.

Watch now for an expert panel discussion examining how the rapid growth of state privacy laws is influencing the debate over federal privacy legislation.

ITIF’s spring seminar course explores core emerging technologies and issues that are reshaping our world and, in the process, creating public policy challenges and opportunities. The course is open to congressional and federal staff only.

ITIF’s fall seminar course will explore core emerging technologies that are reshaping our world and the public policy challenges and opportunities influencing their development and application. The course is open to congressional and federal staff only.

Ash Johnson speaks about children's online safety at an event hosted by the Congressional Internet Caucus Academy.

ITIF’s spring seminar course explores core emerging technologies and issues that are reshaping our world and, in the process, creating public policy challenges and opportunities. The course is open to congressional and federal staff only.

Watch now for a panel discussion exploring how anti-tech conservatives would weaponize the government against technology, the legitimacy of conservatives’ anti-tech arguments, and the implications of their proposals for society.

Watch now for an expert panel discussion exploring the intersection between digital policy issues and the First Amendment, the free speech implications of proposals to address online problems, and how lawmakers could address these problems without infringing on users' or companies' speech rights.

Watch now for a panel discussion on the facts of the case, the claims against Meta, and how this lawsuit fits into the broader discussion over content moderation, privacy, children’s safety, and the responsibilities of social media platforms.

Watch now for the panel dsicussion focusing on age verification technology for social media, AI age estimation, and current capabilities and limitations that policymakers should consider when crafting legislation designed to protect children.

Gillian Diebold and Ashley Johnson moderate discussions about AI and education and children’s privacy concerns with emerging technology at the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) Annual Conference, hosted by BBB National Programs.

Ashley Johnson speaks at the Big Tech & Speech Summit, an exclusive forum addressing the red-hot controversies impacting Big Tech in Washington.