The Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act has passed the House of Representatives, with 267 representatives voting in favor of the legislation. The KIDS Act was initially sponsored by Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and seeks to target the ways in which online retailers advertise cannabis products, narcotics, tobacco, gambling and alcohol to minors. According to the bill, online retailers will be barred from “advertising of narcotic drugs, cannabis products, tobacco products, gambling or alcohol to a user of or visitor to the covered platform who the provider knows is a minor.”
The KIDS Act is a revised version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which previously raised concerns about how users would be required to verify their ages across different websites and applications. Though KOSA does not explicitly require age verification, it does suggest that a website or app must impose restrictions when it “knows or should have known” a user is a child or a teenager. Under both acts, a child is defined as anyone younger than 13, while a teenager is defined as anyone ages 13 through 16. Advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have criticized both acts over concerns involving how reliable age verification could affect privacy and freedom of expression.
Targeting online retailers and their advertising practices has remained an issue in recent years. Arizona’s cannabis laws already prevent cannabis brands from appealing to children; packaging must be opaque and child-resistant, names of products cannot mimic well-known brands, and gummies cannot be made in shapes that resemble animals, insects, toys or cartoon characters. Nicotine is a different arena entirely: with fruity and candy-flavored nicotine vapes available in colorful packaging sold online and in stores. And as online retailers can operate outside of Arizona, concerns about access to and advertising of nicotine and cannabis. Earlier this June, Arizona passed HB 4001, a bill that “prohibits the marketing or sale of alternative nicotine products in packaging designed to appeal to minors, including products that resemble toys, food, electronics, or other youth-oriented items.”
The KIDS Act will now move to the Senate, which initially passed KOSA. This will likely involve more negotiations involving how online platforms will be held liable for age verification.
