Advocates Express Outrage as Big Tech Sues to Stop Online Protections for Kids in Maryland

Maryland Kids Code Coalition Members Decry NetChoice Companies’ Attack on Historic New Law to Create a Safer Internet

ANNAPOLIS – Today, members of the Maryland Kids Code Coalition expressed their outrage in response to a lawsuit filed by NetChoice, a trade association representing major tech companies including Meta, Google, Amazon and Snap, aimed at blocking the implementation of the Maryland Kids Code, landmark legislation to provide stronger online protections for children and teens.

“We want to express our deep outrage that NetChoice and Big Tech are seeking to reverse the Maryland Kids Code, which the Governor recently signed into law. The Maryland legislature and the people of Maryland have spoken. The online safety of our children is paramount,” said Todd Minor Sr. and Mia Minor, members of the Coalition and executive directors of the Matthew E. Minor Awareness Foundation. “As painful as it has been to share the loss of our beloved 12-year-old son, Matthew, to a social media challenge, we feel his story, along with the stories of other affected parents, families, and communities, resonates and underscores the need for NetChoice member companies and Big Tech to update their business model as it relates to online child safety.”

The Maryland Kids Code, which received broad support from parents, young people, educators, and advocacy groups during its journey to unanimous passage by Maryland’s General Assembly, introduced crucial protections against harmful online practices that target kids on October 1st, 2024. The law is designed to ban design features that encourage prolonged use and excessive data tracking by platforms, ensuring a safer digital environment and better privacy for Maryland’s youth. 

NetChoice member group Meta announced earlier this year it would not support a lawsuit against the Kids Code, raising questions about the timing of the sudden legal about-face from members of the coalition of community organizations and advocates that united under the Maryland Kids Code Coalition banner last year to pass the bill, including: Design It For Us, Economic Action Maryland, Free State PTA, Grace McComas Memorial, the Maryland Association of School Health Nurses, the Maryland Association of Student Councils, the Maryland Association of Youth Services Bureaus, the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the Maryland Coalition of Families, the Maryland Episcopal Public Policy Network, the Maryland Out of School Time Network, the Maryland State Education Association, the Matthew E. Minor Awareness Foundation, and the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence – Maryland. 

“Instead of using this moment to practice accountability, Big Tech companies would rather continue to ignore our stories and experiences so that they can continue raking in profits at the expense of our safety and well-being. Worse yet, NetChoice’s lawsuit aims to undermine the work and wishes of the families and youth who are most vulnerable to Big Tech’s toxic business practices,” said youth advocate Arielle Geismar, Design It For Us Co-Chair.

About the Plaintiffs

Big Tech Created NetChoice Litigation Center to Overwhelm Lawmakers with Spurious Legal Attacks

  • Big Tech giants created NetChoice, which is currently suing to stop ten states from implementing laws to keep kids safe online, in order to distance themselves publicly from their unpopular, extreme policy goals and political tactics.
  • Over the last several years, Big Tech giants have started shoveling unprecedented amounts of money into NetChoice’s war on kids, fighting against any and all attempts at regulation.
  • Despite the pushback, over a year and a half of Kids Code hearings, Maryland legislators repeatedly made national news by standing up to Big Tech lobbyists and exposing their deceptive tactics. 

Kids Code Stands on Strong Legal Ground

Does Not Violate First Amendment/Allow Censorship

  • The Maryland Kids Code does not seek to moderate or censor content online – rather, it requires platforms to take simple, additional, measures to conceal the data and protect the privacy of underaged users. 
  • NetChoice is motivated to block regulation not because of deeply-held free speech concerns, but so that its member companies, including Meta, Google, Snap, and X, can keep maximizing profits and continue designing their products with addicting, harmful, and data hoarding features that endanger kids.
  • If we allow the Big Tech lobby’s lawyers to weaponize the First Amendment to block any online safety law from being passed, we will never be able to make progress in making the internet a safer place for children.  

Compliant with Section 230 

  • In NetChoice v. Bonta, the plaintiff alleged that the provisions of the CAADC requiring platforms to enforce their terms of service, [CAADC section 1798.99.31(a)(9)] the provisions regulating the collection; use; or sale of personal information, and the provisions prohibiting the use of certain dark patterns [CAADC § 1798.99.31(b)(1), (3), (4), (7)] are preempted by Section 230.
  • The district court in NetChoice v. Bonta has not ruled on the applicability of § 230 to the California AADC.
  • The Maryland Kids Code does not contain a provision requiring platforms to enforce their own terms of service analogous to the provision that allegedly conflicts with § 230 in the California AADC. 
  • Instead, the Maryland Kids Code includes provisions regulating the collection, use, or sale of personal information and the provisions pertaining to dark patterns merely regulate the platform’s own conduct. They do not treat the platform as the publisher of third-party content and therefore do not conflict with Section 230.

About the Kids Code

  • The Maryland Kids Code is a data privacy framework that requires online services and products that children and teens are likely to access to protect their privacy in an age-appropriate way. 
  • This means not collecting or selling their data, setting high privacy settings by default, and avoiding manipulative design. 
  • By calling for safety by design and privacy by default, the Kids Code’s age-appropriate design code approach serves as a path to accountability for tech companies, inspiring lawmakers across the country to pursue this proven, bipartisan approach to strengthening youth online safety, consumer protection and corporate accountability. 

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