Industry stakeholders and free speech advocates have anxiously been awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, which could significantly impact state age verification laws around the United States. In the meantime, state legislatures continue to weigh and pass AV bills, the U.K. and the EU are moving ahead with their own AV mandates and strategies, and legal challenges continue to play out in U.S. courts — with some cases on hold pending the SCOTUS ruling in Paxton.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed the state's age verification bill, stating that legislation to protect children’s online safety “should be bipartisan and work within the bounds of the First Amendment, which this bill does not.”
