children’s privacy

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Companies can take many lessons from the FTC’s recent COPPA settlement with a robot app from the toy manufacturer Apitor Technologies. According to the FTC complaint, the app allegedly allowed a Chinese entity to collect and share children’s geolocation information without parental consent – violating COPPA. In particular, children could use the app to program their robots, but to do so, they needed to enable location permissions. Once enabled, a third party SDK (JPush), developed by Chinese-based entity Jiguang, would send the child’s location to that entity’s Chinese-based servers.Continue Reading What Can We Learn from This Administration’s FTC COPPA Settlement

Connecticut has revised its privacy law for the third time since it was passed in 2022. With SB 1295, the state has mirrored others (like Colorado and Montana) in making ongoing changes to its law. Many of the changes incorporate either in concept, or wholesale, provisions that exist in other states. Connecticut makes these changes following 2024 and 2025 AG reports, which reports included recommendations to lawmakers, some of which ended up in SB 1295. Continue Reading Connecticut, the Provisions State, Adds New Provisions to its Privacy Law

Oregon will begin to regulate the use of minors’ information and sale of users’ location data (regardless of age) with an update to its Oregon Consumer Privacy Act. These revisions will go into effect January 1, 2026. As amended, those subject to the law will not be able to profile or serve targeted advertising to anyone under 16. This includes both those the company knows are under that age, as well as those that they should know are under that age. (Currently, restriction that applies to consumers that are at least thirteen but not older than fifteen without their consent.)Continue Reading Oregon’s Privacy Law Update Adds to Patchwork Approach to Minors and Location Data

Vermont has joined the list of states attempting to regulate the use of children’s information collected online, passing an Age-Appropriate Design Code Act. This law mirrors ones we have seen in other US states as well as the UK, and applies to online services reasonably accessed by minors, that collect personal data. We expect it to be challenged, but if it is not, it would go into effect January 1. Among other things, the law provides the following:Continue Reading Growing List of States Attempting to Regulate Kids’ Online Privacy: Vermont Joins the Group

Nebraska’s governor signed a bill into law that, among other things, creates the Parental Rights in Social Media Act. The provisions of the law will go into effect July 1, 2026, unless challenged. The law is similar to several other states, most of which have been challenged (including Arkansas, California, and Utah) and some struck down.Continue Reading Growing List of States Attempting to Regulate Kids’ Social Media Accounts: Nebraska Husks Up

The Michigan Attorney General has filed a complaint against Roku, a popular TV content platform, alleging, among other things, violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and the Video Privacy Protection Act (and a similar Michigan law). As most are aware, COPPA requires prior parental consent before collecting information from children online. It gives standing to both the FTC and to states’ attorneys general, but no private right of action. Most cases brought since COPPA’s passage have been brought by the FTC, however, and not by states. This current Michigan case comes after a group of 43 states, including Michigan, sent a letter to the FTC urging it to strengthen and update its COPPA Rule.Continue Reading Michigan AG Sues Roku Over Alleged Privacy Violations

Arkansas’ second attempt at regulating minor’s access to social media – in the form of the Social Media Safety Act (SB 689) – has again been struck down as unconstitutional. The court permanently enjoined the state from enforcing the law. It was a modified version of Arkansas’ 2023 SB 396, that was also blocked. The plaintiff in both challenges was NetChoice, a group familiar to anyone following kids’ social media laws. As a result of NetChoice’s efforts, similar laws have been blocked in California, Utah, Maryland, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas. Courts in those states, as in Arkansas, found that the laws were unduly burdensome on free speech, with overly broad content restrictions not tailored to prevent harm to minors.Continue Reading Arkansas’ Kids Social Media Law: Another One Bites the Dust

Utah’s governor recently signed the first law which puts age restrictions on app downloads. The law (the App Store Accountability Act, SB 142), was signed yesterday (Wednesday, March 26, 2025). We anticipate that the law may be challenged, similar to NetChoice’s challenge to the Utah Social Media Regulation Act and other similar state laws.Continue Reading Utah Pioneers App Store Age Limits

The New York Attorney General recently entered into an assurance of discontinuance with Saturn Technologies, operator of an app used by high school and college students. The app was designed to be a social media platform that assists students with tracking their calendars and events. It also includes connection and social networking features and displayed students’ information to others. This included students’ location and club participation, among other things. According to the NYAG, the company had engaged in a series of acts that violated the state’s unfair and deceptive trade practice laws.Continue Reading New York AG Settles with School App

The Ninth Circuit continued the pause on California’s SB 976 (Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act) as of late January 2025. The law was signed by Governor Newsom in September 2024, and challenged by NetChoice shortly thereafter.Continue Reading California’s Kids’ Social Media Law Wrangling Continues, and Maryland Too!