Alaska Passes Sweeping AI & Social Media Bill
The Alaska House of Representatives has unanimously passed a bill with sweeping restrictions on social media and artificial intelligence. If it becomes law, the measure would limit algorithmic manipulation and enforce new transparency requirements, reflecting growing momentum to regulate AI-powered content feeds.
The legislation, which started as a focused effort to criminalize AI-generated child sexual abuse material, was significantly broadened just before its passage. Amendments introduced by Democratic Representative Zack Fields of Anchorage expanded the bill to include new restrictions on how AI can be used to depict adults and how social media platforms can interact with minors. A key provision of the expanded bill criminalizes the creation of synthetic sexual images of a real person without their consent. The bill also makes it a misdemeanor to harass or threaten someone using a "forged digital likeness," more commonly known as a deepfake. For users under 18, the bill mandates parental or guardian permission to create a social media account and grants parents full access to their children's accounts. It also sets a default 10:30 p.m. social media curfew for minors and prohibits platforms from using algorithms to feed them content based on their personal data or interests. The original sponsor of the bill, Republican Representative Sarah Vance of Homer, acknowledged the significant changes and called on the state Senate to refine the measure before it becomes law. This follows a pattern from 2024, when a bill requiring age verification for pornographic websites stalled in the Senate after similar social media restrictions for children were added by the House. This legislative action in the House comes as the Alaska Senate considers its own bill, SB 2, which focuses on regulating AI in election campaigns and by state agencies. That bill would require disclosures for election-related deepfakes and set guidelines for how government bodies can use AI in "consequential decisions" that have a significant impact on individuals.
