Arizona’s legislative session is wrapping up this month and one of the most sweeping digital identity bills in the country is expected to advance before it ends.
HB 2991 started as a narrow social media bill. It passed the House 44-6 in March. Then the Senate used a strike-everything amendment to replace it entirely with a broad new framework that reaches from the operating system on your phone all the way down to the content on your screen. It passed the Senate Regulatory Affairs and Government Efficiency Committee 4-2 on a party-line vote and is now expected to move this week.
This is the critical window. Here’s what you need to know.
What the Bill Does
HB 2991 creates mandatory age verification requirements at every layer of the digital stack:
- At the OS level: Apple and Google must verify the ages of all users (new accounts at creation, existing accounts within six months) and transmit real-time age signals to every developer via API on an ongoing basis
- At the app store level: Parental consent required before any minor can download or access an app
- At the social media level: Seven mandatory default settings for every known minor account: silenced notifications, blocked direct messages from strangers, disabled auto-play video, restricted geolocation sharing, and more
- At the content level: Any app where more than one-third of content is deemed harmful to minors must age-verify every user before granting access
Why We Oppose It
Builds a centralized identity database with no data protections. To verify everyone’s age, companies must collect and centralize sensitive identity data on every user in Arizona, including children. The bill is almost entirely silent on what companies can do with that data. No retention limits. No deletion requirements. No restrictions on use or sharing. The infrastructure gets built, but the protections do not.
Mandates continuous monitoring of every minor account. The bill never uses the word “monitoring” but the obligations it creates make it inevitable. To enforce the direct messaging prohibition alone, platforms must continuously track which accounts belong to minors, monitor connection status between accounts in real time, and block message attempts before delivery. The liability structure (up to $75,000 per violation) ensures platforms will over-monitor rather than risk getting it wrong.
Creates First Amendment burdens on access to lawful speech. Nearly identical laws have been blocked in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Ohio on First Amendment grounds. Arizona’s bill is broader than all of them and broader than the Texas app store law currently being litigated in the 5th Circuit. The one-year implementation window will almost certainly be filled with litigation at Arizona taxpayer expense.
Holds device makers liable for conduct they don’t control. The bill creates civil liability against device makers and app store operators for harm on third-party platforms they don’t own, operate, or control. This is the same manufacturer liability framework that has been used against firearms makers in blue states, and once Arizona writes it into statute for tech, it becomes a template for every industry that follows.
Parents already have voluntary tools that accomplish this without a mandate. This week Apple previewed new child safety features giving parents the ability to block or pause social media, gate app downloads behind parental consent, and rely on age-based App Store restrictions…all voluntarily, without submitting government ID or creating a centralized database. Read Apple’s announcement here.
The problem this bill claims to solve is already being addressed through parental choice. The mandate isn’t necessary.
What You Can Do Right Now
Contact your Arizona legislators and tell them to oppose HB 2991 as written. Raise the privacy risks, the constitutional problems, and the fact that voluntary parental tools already exist. Click here: Member Roster, then click on “Find my legislator” and you will be able to send a message directly to your senator and representative.
Email House Majority Leader Carbone: [email protected]
Share this page with anyone in Arizona who cares about privacy, parental rights, and constitutional governance.
For a full technical breakdown of the HB 2991 striker amendment and how it compares to the Texas app store law currently in litigation, read our Substack analysis: Arizona Just Built a Digital Surveillance Machine And Called It Child Safety