PIERRE, S.D.—The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) urged South Dakota lawmakers who are convening a study committee on the topic of age verification to deny any attempts to adopt potentially inequitable age-gating legislation during the 2025 legislative session.
The Study Committee on Artificial Intelligence and Regulation of Internet Access by Minors heard pitches Wednesday from South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley on potential bills to propose during the upcoming session. In addition to proponents and the office of Attorney General Jackley, trade groups like CCIA threw in their insights.
“Younger internet users should have greater privacy protections, and unfortunately many bills aiming to protect children would require companies to collect additional personal data to achieve and prove compliance," said Khara Boender, CCIA's state policy director, in her testimony to the study committee.
Boender addressed several concepts proposed by Jackley. For example, Jackley introduced a conceptual draft bill that would specifically target mobile app stores.
Jackley's concepts were additionally backed by a lobbyist for Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, who said app stores should have the responsibility to verify the age of users who download certain covered applications.
At least, that is what KELO reporter Bob Mercer pointed out when Meta's global director of youth safety Nichole Lopez pitched a regulatory framework that reflects the concepts presented to the study committee by the attorney general.
Lopez told the study committee, "We’re not saying this app store solution is the silver bullet. We’re saying it’s a really good place to start."
The Jackley draft bills feature criminal and civil penalties for violators of the law, including a Class I misdemeanor for first-time offenders.
Also being considered is a proposal that specifically targets adult entertainment platforms that was killed earlier this year, during the 2024 legislative session. Draft 127, another concept being considered by the study committee, is backed by State Rep. Bethany Soye, a Republican of Sioux Falls.
Draft 127 provides for so-called "reasonable" age verification measures and orders criminal penalties for violators of the age-gating requirements.
Lawmakers in the South Dakota Legislature return to Pierre for the 2025 legislative session on January 14. This year's session is scheduled for 38 legislative days. Soye's bill last year was ultimately killed and exchanged for the implementation of the study committee to investigate the impacts of minors' internet use and artificial intelligence.
"We encourage South Dakota to instead enact digital literacy programs for parents and younger users to ensure they are aware of the many tools and products at their disposal to tailor and personalize their online experience," concluded CCIA's Boender.
NetChoice, another technology industry trade group, filed written testimony in the same study committee hearing.
"We respectfully urge the committee to reject this unconstitutional and ineffective approach," wrote Amy Bos, NetChoice's director of federal and state affairs. "Instead, we encourage fostering an environment where private sector innovation in parental controls and youth safety tools can flourish."
As AVN reported in August, Attorney General Jackley is considered far-right. Journalists in the Lakota Nation call Jackley a "proven racist."
Jackley also pledged to uphold the Moms for Liberty promise. Moms for Liberty is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, GLAAD, and the Human Rights Campaign. It is also aligned with Project 2025, which is coordinated by the ultraconservative Heritage Foundation.
Project 2025 is an initiative that wants to censor and outlaw legal pornography that is protected by the First Amendment.
