Arizona Cannot Follow in Utah’s Footsteps When It Comes to Children’s’ Privacy Laws

By: Lisa Hoberg

Since returning to Phoenix this legislative session, Arizona’s lawmakers have found themselves busy, introducing legislation to address issues ranging from water policy to immigration and setting guidelines for artificial intelligence. Considering the urgency of these issues, matched by the need for reasonable solutions, Arizona’s legislature faces a new degree of pressure to break the dysfunction we saw last year.

Unfortunately, history may already be repeating itself. In the rush to introduce legislation to address priorities, some policymakers have put forward bills that could create more problems than they intend to solve. As such, they likely stand little chance of receiving a signature from Governor Hobbs, who has already shown an evident willingness to reject problematic bills after vetoing a record number last year.

One issue that this dynamic could impact is children’s privacy and safety online, which has already seen a wave of proposals across the country. While Arizonans stand in consensus that the topic is essential for us to address, especially considering the increased role of social media in our kids' lives, we must be measured in our approach. After all, states that have rushed to enact children’s privacy laws have seen their laws held up in court over concerns that they infringe on the First Amendment.

We need to learn from these mistakes, and outright avoid recycling provisions from one of the most infamous legislative failures to address the topic: Utah’s Senate Bill 152.

Senate Bill 152, which was passed nearly a year ago but has yet to go into effect due to constitutional concerns, is an unacceptable model for Arizona to follow. Its overreaching provisions give the state’s government the authority to set time limits for children’s social media use, stripping away parental authority and overlooking limits already built into platforms. More concerning, it calls for the collection of more data from the state’s children to verify their age when signing up for social media platforms. This accumulation of data includes sensitive information like street addresses, opening the door to future cyberattacks that could expose the information to bad actors.

These draconian measures have raised so much controversy that even Utah’s legislators have already proposed legislation to roll back its most drastic elements. Recognizing these failures, Arizona’s decision-makers have an obligation to avoid taking the same path by imitating its despotic, top-down measures like hard age verification requirements. Instead, we should take the lead in creating a new model that respects the rights of parents to set the rules for their own children and does not create unnecessary data security risks for minors.

We should consider the tools that already exist to protect them, and when considering new policy measures to expand on those protections, avoid proposals that may never see the light of day due to constitutional concerns.

Ultimately, if we want to see a solution come out of this timely conversation in our state, we should avoid making the same mistakes as our neighbors. Protecting our kids online is of paramount importance. Let’s get it right.

Lisa Hoberg is a parent and community leader.