Montana legislators approved what would be the first US statewide bill to ban TikTok. SB 419 has been sent to the governor to sign. The bill cites Chinese surveillance as a main cause for concern. If signed, TikTok would be prohibited from offering its platform to residents, and Apple and Google would not be allowed to make TikTok available for download in Montana.
The suit claimed Vimeo’s recently acquired Magisto AI-based video creation and editing platform collected and stored user biometric data, including using face mapping to identify age, gender and location without consent. This violation of Illinois’ Biometric and Information Privacy Act (BIPA) has been denied by Vimeo, which nevertheless agreed to settle the suit.
The “Social Media Safety Act,” which follows passage of a similar law in Utah, requires social media platforms to verify the ages of users who are under 18 and requires parental consent for minors to create an account. Companies will be required to check ages via government-issued IDs or other verification methods, though what those methods will be, and which companies are exempt, is still unclear.
It’s tough to get brand safety right, but the industry keeps trying. IPG Mediabrands announced a new set of tools to find and block inappropriate ad placements, while IAS expanded its suitability measurements to include standards from the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). Meanwhile, DoubleVerify admitted a mistake made brand safety on X/Twitter look worse than it really was in October 2023 and March 2024.