Marketplace All-in-One Bytes: Week in Review — Texas’ age verification law, a potential moratorium on local AI laws, and Meta splits its AI team
May 30, 2025
Maria Curi, a tech policy reporter at Axios, dives into the complexities of Texas' newly signed age verification law aimed at protecting minors online. She highlights the potential legal troubles it could spark regarding privacy and First Amendment rights. The discussion also covers a proposed decade-long moratorium on state-level AI regulations, which could significantly impact technology governance. Additionally, Curi sheds light on Meta's latest shakeup in its AI teams to keep pace in an increasingly competitive industry.
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States Lead on Age Verification
- Texas and Utah lead states mandating age verification for app stores to protect kids online.
- Meta supports this as it simplifies age verification, deferring it to app stores rather than individual apps.
Legal Challenges of Age Verification
- Age verification laws raise constitutional concerns, especially about First Amendment rights.
- Verifying parental consent might infringe on teens' freedom of speech and expression online.
Federal AI Moratorium's Broad Impact
- The "Big Beautiful Bill" seeks to ban states from enforcing AI regulations for 10 years.
- Many states' existing AI laws on transparency, copyright, and deepfakes would be rendered unenforceable.