{
  "source": "https://thethriftydev.com/blog/age-verification-creep-tracker/",
  "post_modified": "2026-07-03T20:58:56",
  "generated_from_post_tables": true,
  "tables": [
    {
      "headers": [
        "Bill or proposal",
        "Status",
        "Supporter framing",
        "Age verification risk",
        "Speech/privacy risk"
      ],
      "rows": [
        [
          "KOSA, S.1748",
          "76 cosponsors (42 R, 33 D, 1 I). Introduced May 14, 2025. No Senate Commerce markup to date.",
          "Design duties and safeguards for minors",
          "High",
          "Platforms may over-filter sensitive lawful content and seek age assurance"
        ],
        [
          "COPPA 2.0",
          "Passed Senate by unanimous consent March 5, 2026 (21 cosponsors). Awaiting House action.",
          "Stronger protections for children and teens",
          "Medium",
          "Depends on implementation and how platforms determine age"
        ],
        [
          "House online safety packages",
          "KIDS Act (H.R.7757) passed House E&C along party lines March 5, 2026. Strips the Senate KOSA \u201cduty of care\u201d; adds broad federal preemption. Stalled on House floor \u2014 bipartisan negotiations ongoing; Democrats object over weakened knowledge standard and state law preemption. No floor vote scheduled.",
          "Parental controls and child safety accountability",
          "High",
          "Could shift age checks to app stores, operating systems, or device layers"
        ],
        [
          "Parents Decide Act, H.R.8250",
          "Introduced April 13, 2026. Mandates OS-level age verification (Apple, Google, Microsoft) with FTC enforcement \u2014 broader than app store laws, covers every device. In House committee, no markup scheduled.",
          "Device-level child safety accountability",
          "Severe",
          "Shifts age checks from apps to OS layer; could affect every desktop and mobile device nationally"
        ],
        [
          "Phone or SIM identity proposals",
          "Separate but related identity pressure",
          "Fraud, trafficking, and crime prevention",
          "Severe",
          "Turns basic communication into a permissioned identity event"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "headers": [
        "Category",
        "What to watch",
        "Why it matters",
        "Risk"
      ],
      "rows": [
        [
          "Adult-site age verification",
          "State laws requiring ID or age assurance for sexual content",
          "Creates legal precedent and vendor infrastructure",
          "High"
        ],
        [
          "Social media minor laws",
          "Parental consent, account limits, and age checks for social platforms",
          "Pushes identity checks into general-purpose speech platforms",
          "Severe"
        ],
        [
          "App store age verification",
          "Apple/Google or app-store-level age signals",
          "Centralizes age identity at the operating-system or app-store layer",
          "Severe"
        ],
        [
          "Device-level age systems",
          "Age signals built into phones, browsers, or operating systems",
          "Could follow users across apps and websites",
          "Severe"
        ],
        [
          "Social media age verification (state)",
          "West Virginia HB 4412: adult-site age verification effective June 12, 2026. Massachusetts H.5295: House-passed April 8, 2026 \u2014 would ban social media for under-14s and require universal age verification for all social media users; currently in Massachusetts Senate.",
          "West Virginia creates new enforcement precedent; Massachusetts would be one of the strictest laws in the nation",
          "Severe"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ]
}