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AAF Government Report | May 2023
May 8, 2023

States Consider/Act on Privacy Laws
Action on state privacy issues remains quite hectic as many states reach the end of their 2023 legislative sessions.

New laws have been enacted in numerous states.

In Washington, Governor Jay Inslee (D) signed into law a measure addressing the collection, sharing and selling of consumer health data. While AAF strongly supports appropriate limitations on the use of consumer health data, AAF believes the new law’s overly broad definition of consumer health data would impede Washington consumers from receiving useful and relevant information about products and services they may desire. We expressed our concerns in a letter to lawmakers and to the Governor requesting he veto the bill.

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) approved a new law requiring age verification on social media and limiting Internet access to anyone under the age of 18. While well intentioned, the law raised constitutional concerns, would limit Arkansas minors’ ability to access information online, and could unintentionally expose Arkansas minors to harm. AAF expressed these concerns in letters to legislators and the Governor requesting a veto of the measures.

A similar “Age-Appropriate” bill was introduced in Minnesota. AAF was joined by AAF Central Minnesota and AAF District 8 in expressing our concerns.

Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb (R) recently signed a privacy protection measure into law. As of this writing, similar measures are awaiting approval in Tennessee and Montana. AAF does not support the enactment of state privacy laws as we believe in a national privacy law protecting all U.S. citizens consistently. However, we chose not to expend limited resources opposing these measures as they are relatively reasonable and mostly – if not entirely— consistent with laws enacted in other states.

Lawmakers in Florida are facing a May 5, deadline to finish their legislative session. Privacy is one of many measures being considered in the final hours. AAF and our local Florida Ad Clubs have been in near constant communication with legislators regarding the proposed privacy bills with letters sent April 3, April 12, April 13, April 20, May 3 (House), and May 3 (Senate) responding to the most recent developments.

AAF has also submitted letters to lawmakers in New York and Vermont responding to proposed privacy bills.

Federal Privacy Bills Introduced
Representatives Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) reintroduced the Online Privacy Act, comprehensive privacy legislation that creates user data rights, places limitations and obligations on the ability of companies to collect and use user data and establishes a Digital Privacy Agency to enforce privacy laws.

Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Katie Britt (R-AL) have introduced legislation that would require social media platforms to verify users’ ages, prohibit teens under 18 from using social media without parental consent and completely ban children under 13 from social media. It would also would prohibit social media platforms from using algorithms — defined as fully or partially automated systems—to recommend material to teens.

Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Edward Markey (D-MA) announced the reintroduction of COPPA 2.0. The bill contains a broad definition of “targeted marketing” and prohibits the activity for children and teens.

Representative Kathy Castor (D-FL) has reintroduced the Kids PRIVACY Act that would restrict online companies from collecting teens’ data.

AAF supports appropriate protections for children’s and youth privacy, but believes it should be done in the context of comprehensive privacy legislation.

The AAF supported Privacy for America sent a letter to leadership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee in connection with its April 19 hearing on the role of data brokers in the digital economy and online privacy protections. The letter encourages the Subcommittee to not create unreasonable barriers to effective and responsible use of data as it works to advance comprehensive national data privacy legislation.

Digital Advertising Alliance is Expanding its Industry Integrations for Consumer Choice Tools Regarding Interest-Based Advertising, and Enhancing its Political Ads Platform for Election 2024

The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA)—of which AAF is a founding association—joined AAF members who participated in our 2023 Advertising Day on the Hill.

The DAA’s community’s strength has come from its foresight and its proactive actions to codify and live by responsible industry practices. Those practices and that commitment has allowed our industry to help shape policy debates, media and consumer attitudes.

This quarter, numerous large-scale projects are being worked on inside DAA which may be important to AAF members who vet and evaluate ad tech players on behalf of their clients.

CMP CoMPlement: This past quarter, DAA announced its plan for working with consent management platforms or providers (CMPs). The CMP CoMPlement project consists of interface guidance and an integration specification (a signal and API) that CMPs can use to bridge consumer choices between the DAA and their own respective offerings, utilizing the ubiquitous AdChoices icon  . While it’s named the “CMP CoMPlement,” the work also applies to customer data platforms (CDPs) and any other third party that handles consumer consent signals. To learn more about this initiative and to get the CMPs you work with involved, please get in touch with DAA’s Jamie Monaco (cmp@aboutads.info).

Political Ad Icon Serving & Ad Database: Demand-side platforms and publishers alike will want to pay attention to the services offered through the updated purple icon program, the DAA Political Ad icon. The DAA’s program features a self-serve icon-serving platform that participants (campaigns and PACs, directly or through their agencies) can use to place transparency information atop their political ads—much as the blue AdChoices icon does for privacy information. This election cycle, the DAA also offers an ad database to store ad creatives for up to five years—that can serve as a state registry. Both the icon serving and ad database have an API for integration. To explore Political Ad icon licensing and platform participation, click here.

Addressable Media Identifiers: If AAF-member agency clients rely on private-sector offered identity solutions to maintain consumer/brand engagement across sites, apps, platforms and browsers, then now is the time to demand DAA certification on these these AMI solutions—to assert, through an independent third party, that such solutions adhere fully to the DAA-administered AMI Policy Framework. We are also asking brands and publishers now to include DAA-certified AMIs in their RFPS, policies and contracts. Point your identity service providers here to initiate the AMI certification process

More Than Token Change: DAA’s YourAdChoices—a transparency and consumer control tool for token opt-out/revocation is already in market—using hashed email addresses as advertising identifiers. The DAA is now in process of testing an opt-out tool for hashed phone numbers (initially focusing on smartphones)—to provide similar choice, through a verified process. For those ad tech companies using DAA’s WebChoices and AppChoices, who may be turning to token identifiers as cookie and mobile ad identification alternatives or supplements, now is the time to sign up for testing. To get started, use the “YourAdChoices” tick box on our choice tools integration form.

These are not the only DAA initiatives underway now. AAF will continue to brief its members on these necessary tools and protocols to enhance consumer engagement and help build trust through enhanced transparency and control—no matter what state and federal laws may pass.

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