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Nebraska Legislature advances bill aiming to curb online design features targeting children after extended debate
Summary
After hours of floor debate focused on enforcement and rulemaking, the Legislature advanced LB504, the Age-Appropriate Online Design Code Act, which would restrict certain online design practices for minors; supporters and opponents clashed chiefly over rulemaking authority for the attorney general and definitions such as "dark patterns."
Senator Megan Bosin's Age‑Appropriate Online Design Code Act (LB504) advanced from general file Thursday after extensive floor debate about enforcement, rulemaking authority and technical definitions tied to online platforms and children.
Proponents said the bill addresses “algorithms for kids” and addictive design features on social media that harm young users. Opponents repeatedly raised concerns that the measure grants too much power to the attorney general, may raise First Amendment and interstate commerce issues, and leaves open how key terms will be defined and enforced.
The bill would, among other things, prohibit covered online services from using certain design features that “substantially subvert or impair user autonomy, decision making, or choice,” and imposes enforcement mechanisms that the bill assigns to the Nebraska attorney general. Senator Bosin described the measure as bipartisan and intended to present parents with the ability…
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