Oppose SB278's Age Verification Approach — Raise Verifiable Parental Consent Age to 18

Vote no on SB278 as written and replace its age verification mandate with a requirement for verifiable parental consent for all users under 18. The current bill's approach is backwards: by demanding platforms verify that users are over 13, it creates a direct incentive for minors to lie about their age. That's not child protection — it's a system that teaches kids to falsify personal information to get online. The real fix is raising the verifiable parental consent age to 17 or under 18 across the board. Instead of trying to wall kids out and watching them climb over, require platforms to obtain confirmed parental consent before any minor can access the service. This shifts the compliance burden to platforms and parents — where it belongs — rather than creating a verification arms race that minors will win every time. No reliable, privacy-safe age verification technology exists at scale anyway, so the bill's current framework is built on a foundation that doesn't exist. Fix the incentive structure. Require verifiable parental consent for under-18 users and stop encouraging kids to lie.