Children's Privacy

On August 1, 2024, the Office of the New York State Attorney General (OAG) released two Advanced Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) for the SAFE for Kids Act and the NY Child Data Protection Act. These ANPRMs solicit input that will help the OAG promulgate regulations in three areas: (1) identifying “commercially reasonable and technically feasible methods” to determine if a user is a minor; (2) identifying methods of obtaining verifiable parental consent; and (3) promulgating any needed language access regulations.

The two laws forming the basis for the rulemaking were enacted on June 20, 2024. The Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) For Kids Act and the New York Child Data Protection Act contain broad requirements applicable to some companies offering services to children, as explained further below.Continue Reading New York Begins Rulemaking for Two Children’s Data Privacy Laws

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) yesterday, July 23, initiated procedural steps that will likely lead to swift Senate passage of the Kids Online Safety Act (“KOSA”) and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA 2.0”).  Both bills have been under consideration in the Senate and the House of Representatives for some time, which we have previously covered.  Schumer’s action will likely bring the two bills in a single package to the Senate Floor as soon as Thursday, July 25. The future of the legislation in the House, however, is less certain.Continue Reading KOSA, COPPA 2.0 Likely to Pass U.S. Senate

On June 18, 2024, Louisiana enacted HB 577, prohibiting “social media platforms” with more than 1 million users globally from displaying targeted advertising to Louisiana users that the platform has actual knowledge are under 18 years of age and from selling the sensitive personal data of such users. The law amends the effective date of the state social media law, the Louisiana Secure Online Child Interaction and Age Limitation Act (“the SOCIAL Act”), to July 1, 2025. HB 577 also will take effect on July 1, 2025. This post summarizes the law’s key provisions.Continue Reading Louisiana Bans Targeted Advertising to Minors on Social Media Platforms

On Monday, March 25, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed SB 3 into law. At a high level, the bill requires social media platforms to terminate the accounts of individuals under the age of 14, while seeking parental consent for accounts of those 14 or 15 years of age. The law will become effective January 1, 2025. Continue Reading Florida Enacts Social Media Bill Restricting Access for Teens Under the Age of Sixteen

On May 22 the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced a $6 million settlement with Edmodo, an ed tech provider, for violations of the COPPA Rule and Section 5 of the FTC Act.  The FTC described this settlement as the first FTC order that will prohibit an ed tech provider from requiring students to provide more personal data than necessary to participate in online activities.  The settlement is consistent with the FTC’s policy statement on ed tech issued last May (see our summary of the policy statement here).Continue Reading FTC Announces COPPA Settlement Against Ed Tech Provider Including Strict Data Minimization and Data Retention Requirements

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) recently published detailed draft guidance on what “likely to be accessed” by children means in the context of its Age-Appropriate Design Code (“Code”), which came into force on September 2, 2020. The Code applies to online services “likely to be accessed by children” in the UK. “Children” are individuals under the age of 18. In order to determine whether an online service is “likely to be accessed” by children, companies must assess whether the nature and content of the service has “particular appeal for children” and “the way in which the service was accessed”. This new draft guidance provides further assistance on how to make this assessment, and is undergoing a public consultation until May 19, 2023.Continue Reading UK ICO Provides Guidance On When A Service Is “Likely To Be Accessed By Children” And Needs To Comply With Its Age-Appropriate Design Code

This year has been off to a busy start with respect to children’s and minors’ privacy legislation efforts. We wanted to take a moment to recap the latest developments across the board.

The most notable trend of the year thus far has been the widespread introduction of Age Appropriate Design Codes. Ten states have thus…

Regulators in Europe and beyond have been ramping up their efforts related to online safety for minors, through new legislation, guidance, and by promoting self-regulatory tools.  We discuss below recent developments in the EU and UK on age verification online.Continue Reading Age Verification: State of Play and Key Developments in the EU and UK