118 lines
6 KiB
Markdown
118 lines
6 KiB
Markdown
# Age Verification Lobbying Landscape
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## The Core Dynamic
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Age verification legislation shifts compliance burden away from social media platforms (Meta, etc.) and onto operating system providers. Under these laws, Linux distributions - not Facebook - become legally responsible for age-gating.
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## Key Legislation
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### California AB-1043 (Digital Age Assurance Act)
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- Signed: October 13, 2025 by Governor Gavin Newsom
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- Effective: January 1, 2027
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- Author: Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (14th District)
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- Model: Based on ICMEC's Digital Age Assurance Act (DAAA) model legislation
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- Requirement: Operating system providers must prompt for birth date/age at account setup
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- Age brackets reported to apps: Under 13, 13-15, 16-17, 18+
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- Method: Self-reported age (no ID or biometrics required)
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- Penalties: $2,500 negligent / $7,500 intentional per "affected child"
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- Supporters: Google, Meta explicitly voiced support
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### Colorado SB26-051
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- Similar OS-level age verification requirements
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### Brazil Lei 15.211/2025
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- Places burden on web platform providers, NOT operating systems (per Brazilian legal analysis)
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- Taylor's citation of this law was disputed by commenters who read the actual text
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### Utah SB142 (App Store Accountability Act)
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- Compliance deadline: May 6, 2026
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- CCIA filed First Amendment lawsuit (Feb 5, 2026)
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- Federal court blocked enforcement pending hearing on preliminary injunction
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- Parallels the successful CCIA injunction of a Texas statute (Dec 23, 2025)
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## Two Competing Model Legislative Frameworks
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| Framework | Full Name | Burden Falls On | Key Backer |
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| **DAAA** | Digital Age Assurance Act | Operating system manufacturers | ICMEC (Meta-funded) |
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| **ASAA** | App Store Accountability Act | App stores (Apple, Google Play) | DCA (Meta-funded) |
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Both frameworks shift responsibility away from social media platforms. Meta benefits regardless of which model wins.
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## Meta's Lobbying Operation
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| Metric | Value |
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| **2025 federal lobbying spend** | $26.3 million |
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| **Number of federal lobbyists** | 87 |
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| **Number of lobbying firms** | 40+ |
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| **States with active lobbying** | 45 |
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| **Public position on AB-1043** | Supportive |
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### Meta's stated position:
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> "Understanding the age of people online is an industry-wide challenge... [AB-1043] would centralize age verification within app stores and operating systems, which Meta supports."
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### Meta's strategic benefit:
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By shifting age verification to OS providers, Meta avoids implementing age verification on its own platforms (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads).
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## Dark Money Infrastructure
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### Digital Childhood Alliance (DCA)
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- Funder: Meta (covert)
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- Established: January 2024 (publicly launched after domain registration Dec 18, 2024)
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- Claimed members: 140+ coalition organizations
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- Named members: Only 6 publicly identified
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- Heritage Foundation funds 3 of 6 named members:
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- NCOSE (National Center on Sexual Exploitation)
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- Institute for Family Studies
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- Ethics and Public Policy Center
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- Function: Shell advocacy group promoting age verification legislation while concealing Meta's role
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### Heritage Foundation
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- Funds 3/6 DCA coalition members
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- Fellow Dustin Carmack (authored Project 2025 Intelligence Community chapter) was hired by Meta in May 2024
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- Operates a "Senate-to-Heritage-to-DCA pipeline" for policy influence
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- Staffs advocacy pipeline from Capitol Hill to state legislatures
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### ICMEC (International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children)
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- Authored the Digital Age Assurance Act (DAAA) model legislation - template for AB-1043
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- Meta is a confirmed major donor
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- Financial status: Negative net assets of -$2.28 million (financial distress)
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- Despite financial distress, ICMEC continues producing model legislation that serves Meta's interests
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### Arabella Advisors Dark Money Network
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- Meta's Colorado lobbyist Adam Eichberg serves as Board Chair of the New Venture Fund (NVF)
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- NVF is the flagship of the Arabella Advisors network
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- Transfers $121.3 million annually to Sixteen Thirty Fund (501(c)(4) - no donor disclosure)
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- Analysis of 4,433 Arabella grants ($2.0 billion total): $0 went to any child safety organization
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- ConnectSafely concealed tech company donations as "program service revenue" for 9 consecutive years (2015-2023)
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## EFF's Constitutional Opposition
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The Electronic Frontier Foundation opposes AB-1043:
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- Age-gating creates "unnecessary and unconstitutional barriers for adults and young people to access information and express themselves online"
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- Minors have First Amendment rights to access the vast majority of apps and services
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- California has "outsourced censorship to developers, who are likely to lean into over-censorship"
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## Legal Challenges Active
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| Case | Status | Key Detail |
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| CCIA v. Brown (Utah) | Enforcement blocked pending injunction hearing | Federal court ruled Utah can't enforce SB142 during litigation |
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| CCIA v. Paxton (Texas) | Preliminary injunction granted Dec 23, 2025 | Similar age verification statute blocked on First Amendment grounds |
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| AB-1043 challenges | Expected before Jan 1, 2027 deadline | EFF and others building constitutional challenge |
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## The Goodwin Law Connection
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Dylan Taylor cited legal analysis from Goodwin Law (Goodwin Procter LLP) to justify his argument that OS-level compliance was legally necessary. Goodwin Procter is a major law firm that represents tech companies, though the specific client who commissioned the analysis is not publicly known.
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## Sources
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- https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/03/ab-1043s-internet-age-gates-hurt-everyone
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- https://www.eff.org/pages/age-verification-bills-are-unconstitutional
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- https://tboteproject.com/
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- https://peq42.com/blog/meta-is-behind-age-verification/
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- https://ccianet.org/news/2026/02/ccia-challenges-unconstitutional-app-store-law-in-utah/
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- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1043
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- https://a14.asmdc.org/press-releases/20250909-google-meta-among-tech-leaders-and-child-advocates-voicing-support-wicks
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- https://www.sambent.com/the-engineer-who-tried-to-put-age-verification-into-linux-5/
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