Seventeen states passed 20 laws on AI, while 13 states passed 23 laws protecting children online this year. State regulators have been much more productive in passing updated and necessary laws on tech regulation than at the federal level. With all these new guidelines, however, can tech companies keep up and comply with all the different regulations?

Scott Babwah Brennen, UNC-Chapel Hill Head of Online Expression Policy at the Center on Technology Policy, joins the Live show with Yahoo Finance Reporter Alexis Keenan to discuss states' adoption of new tech regulations, how the Federal government could step up their efforts, and what it means for companies.

"I would say it's all up to the Supreme Court at this point. So we're waiting to have decisions... from the Supreme Court on the Florida and Texas content moderation laws that were passed back in 2021 and that will really shape what states are able to do when it comes to content moderation," Brennen says. "I think that sort of explains why we saw such a decrease in state action in content moderation."

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Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: What about content moderation? I mean, looking at the number of state legislations there-- I mean, it's just a handful, but certainly that has dominated at least national conversation. What are the chances in 2024 of any kind of legislation that will fundamentally change the experience we are having on a lot of these platforms?

SCOTT BABWAH BRENNEN: Well, I would say it's all up to the Supreme Court at this point. So we're waiting to have decisions from the Supreme Court on the Florida and Texas content-moderation laws that were passed back in 2021, and that will really shape what states are able to do when it comes to content moderation. And I think that sort of explains why we saw such a decrease in state action in content moderation. States are sort of waiting to see.

ALEXIS KEENAN: Scott, with so much legislation now from the states in child safety, 23 laws there coming from 13 states, and also data privacy, 23 laws from 16 states, where do you see that being problematic in terms of these companies being able to comply? Is there any particular law that you think is going to be a real snag for compliance?

SCOTT BABWAH BRENNEN: Yeah, that's a great question. You know, again, I think we're going to just have to wait and see. I think what's notable about the child-safety laws is how many of the most impactful or most significant laws remain sort of entangled in litigation. So we saw the courts enjoin the major child-safety bills passed in California, the Age Appropriate Design Act, and one in Arkansas. We saw the courts recently enjoin the Montana TikTok ban. Like I said a minute ago with the Supreme Court, right, how these cases are decided is going to have a huge impact on what the landscape of child-safety legislation looks like moving forward and, as a result, the impact on companies in terms of compliance.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, it points to a lot of legal hurdles that tech companies will have to navigate going into 2024. Our thanks to Alexis Keenan as well as Scott Babwah Brennen joining us from UN head of online expression policy.