Disruption

States push ahead on online safety as tech sues

Lawmakers are spurred by ongoing congressional gridlock and alarm about the mental health of teenagers.
Social media platform heads, from left, Discord CEO Jason Citron, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, X CEO Linda Yaccarino, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, listen during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, to discuss child safety online. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

State-level efforts to regulate social media companies and improve internet safety for youth are unrelenting so far this year, despite adverse court rulings and the threat of more tech industry-led litigation.

The push has kept legislators and the industry on a collision path, with no sign of an emerging compromise or consensus regulation model. It’s produced dueling legal efforts, with states suing social media companies for alleged harms to youth and the industry suing to overturn new laws.

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