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James O'Reilly is a Cybersecurity and Privacy Fellow in the firm’s Chicago office.

Virginia’s governor recently signed into law a bill that amends the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act. As revised, the law will include specific provisions impacting children’s use of social media. Unless contested, the changes will take effect January 1, 2026. Courts have struck down similar laws in other states (see our posts about those in Arkansas, California, and Utah) and thus opposition seems likely here as well. Of note, the social media laws that have been struck down in other states attempted to require parental consent before minors could use social media platforms. This law is different, as it allows account creation without parental consent. Instead, it places restrictions on account use for both minors and social media platforms.Continue Reading Virginia Will Add to Patchwork of Laws Governing Social Media and Children (For Now?) 

The FTC’s settlement with Cleo AI gives some indication as to what we might see from the agency in the coming months. The FTC alleged, among other things, that Cleo AI’s actions violated Section 5 of the FTC Act. In particular, as reported in our sister blog, Cleo AI required people to enroll in a paid subscription plan, even though they marketed their services as free. It also made it difficult for people to cancel their subscription and made it hard to stop recurring charges. The company also failed to disclose material terms.Continue Reading Lessons from the FTC: The Cleo AI Settlement

The California Privacy Protection Agency announced this month that it, along with six other states, will be forming a new group called the “Consortium of Privacy Regulators.” (The other states are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, New Jersey, and Oregon.) Members include the Attorneys General from these states, as well as California’s privacy regulator (the CPPA).Continue Reading New Era of Collaboration? States Team Up to Coordinate on Privacy Laws

Over half of US states require annual compliance certifications from insurance providers. While the filing time frames for this year draw to a close, companies may want to keep them in mind not only for next year, but as a reminder of the information security programs that are expected to be in place.Continue Reading Insurance Cybersecurity Certifications: An (Updated) State Roundup

The New York Attorney General recently entered into an assurance of discontinuance with Root Insurance Company following a 2021 data incident. According to the AG, the threat actors obtained people’s drivers’ license numbers by exploiting a website error on its car insurance application portal. Namely, upon entering a publicly available name and address, the site would generate a prefilled PDF that included that person’s drivers’ license number, which numbers were pulled from third-party databases. Threat actors used an automated bot to exploit this vulnerability, and gathered drivers’ license numbers of 44,449 New Yorkers (more than half of the total 72,852 people impacted). The threat actors then used many of these people’s information to file fake unemployment claims with New York, which according to the AG, was the goal of the attack.Continue Reading Auto Insurer Settles With New York AG Over Insurance Application Platform Security Issues

Utah’s governor recently signed the first law which puts age restrictions on app downloads. The law (the App Store Accountability Act, SB 142), was signed yesterday (Wednesday, March 26, 2025). We anticipate that the law may be challenged, similar to NetChoice’s challenge to the Utah Social Media Regulation Act and other similar state laws.Continue Reading Utah Pioneers App Store Age Limits

Starting April 3, Ohio hospitals will have to navigate new requirements under House Bill 173. This law mandates greater transparency in healthcare pricing. It also includes rules for selling or targeted advertising related to personal information hospitals collect from price estimator tools (discussed in more detail below). The law applies to hospitals in Ohio, which is any facility providing inpatient medical services for periods longer than twenty-four hours.Continue Reading New Ohio Transparency Pricing Rules for Hospitals Comes with Limits to Targeted Advertising

The Federal Trade Commission recently requested public comment from users of tech platforms. In particular, the impact the platforms may have on user speech. Input is sought -by May 21- on the extent to which tech firms are engaging in potentially suppressing free speech.Continue Reading FTC Requests Input from Tech Platform Users About Speech

The Oregon AG’s Office, along with the state’s Department of Justice, issued guidance late last year on how state laws apply to the ways businesses use AI. The guidance may be two months old, but the cautions are still timely. The guidance seeks to give companies direction on times when AI uses might be regulated by existing state laws.Continue Reading Oregon’s AI Guidance: Old Laws in Scope for New AI

The New Jersey AG and the Division on Civil Rights’ new guidance on algorithmic discrimination explains how AI tools might be used in ways that violate the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. The law applies to employers in New Jersey, and some of its requirements overlap with new state “comprehensive” privacy laws. In particular, those laws’ requirements on automated decisionmaking. Those laws, however, typically do not apply in an employment context (with the exception of California). This New Jersey guidance (which mirrors what we are seeing in other states) is a reminder that privacy practitioners should keep in mind AI discrimination beyond the consumer context.Continue Reading New Jersey Discrimination Law Guide: Applicability of Existing Laws to AI Tools

The Ninth Circuit continued the pause on California’s SB 976 (Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act) as of late January 2025. The law was signed by Governor Newsom in September 2024, and challenged by NetChoice shortly thereafter.Continue Reading California’s Kids’ Social Media Law Wrangling Continues, and Maryland Too!