AGE VERIFICATION FOR ONLINE CONTENT COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF AZERBAIJANI LEGISLATION AND TEXAS HOUSE BILL 1181

Abstract

The increasing use of the internet by children in Azerbaijan to access harmful content demonstrates the weakness and absence of age verification mechanisms. The Law on the Protection of Children from Harmful Information has a comprehensive system of labeling information that is harmful to children on the offline and broadcasted information and has no direct enforcement mechanisms on the labeling of information on online and digital platforms. This research evaluates both the advantages and the missing aspects of the Azerbaijani system, outlines the enforcement mechanisms of the Texas House Bill 1181, and analyzes the constitutional and practical aspects of the enforcement mechanism of mandatory age verification. The Texas model provides a legal framework for age verification and was upheld under intermediate scrutiny in Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, raising significant privacy concerns. One of the concerns was disclosing users personal information to private platforms, which creates risks related to data collection, storage and potential misuse. Azerbaijan's digital identification systems, ASAN Imza and SIMA Imza, are implemented and are privacy- preserving, and therefore, the Texas system can be avoided by use of the given digital identification systems with the inclusion of the zero-knowledge proofs. The study focuses on the policy and the legal framework on the system to enhance the privacy aspects of the rights of the children, and in accordance with the data protection system, describes in detail the steps, legal aspects, and proposed changes to the privacy systems.