12:00 PM EDT, 04/08/2024 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with statement from NetChoice in the fifth and sixth paragraphs.)

Maryland's legislature has passed the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act of 2024 and the Maryland Kids Code, according to the Maryland General Assembly website.

The Online Data Privacy Act establishes the way that a tech platform may process personal data of consumers, while the Kids Code forbids platforms from certain data collection and sharing practices, requires privacy protections for certain online products, and authorizes certain monitoring practices, among others, according to the state legislature.

The tech industry trade group NetChoice, whose members include Amazon.com ( AMZN ) , Alphabet's (GOOG) Google ( GOOG ), and Meta Platforms ( META ) , had opposed an earlier version of the Kids Code, according to the New York Times.

NetChoice's general counsel argued that the bill impinged on the rights of companies to distribute information and on the rights of minors and adults to get information, the NYT said.

"The good intentions of this legislation do not change that it fails to address the core of the problem lawmakers are trying to solve: keeping young people safe online," NetChoice General Counsel Carl Szabo told MTNewswires Monday. "It is also unfortunately riddled with constitutional problems."

NetChoice hopes that Maryland Governor Wes Moore will veto the legislation, Szabo said.

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