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California Child Privacy Law Fight
Coverage from Alston & Bird Privacy, National Law Review, and others
Articles
11
Active Days
642
The Topic
California's child privacy law is moving through appellate review, with the Ninth Circuit allowing some age-estimation and privacy provisions to proceed while leaving other data-use, DPIA, and dark-pattern restrictions blocked or uncertain. The main tension is between child-protection rules and First Amendment challenges from platform operators.
First Article: 09/26/24
Latest Article: 06/29/26
Summary
- The strongest current signal is appellate litigation over California's Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, not broad policy rollout.
- The Ninth Circuit has partially lifted an injunction, allowing some child-privacy obligations to move forward while keeping several provisions blocked.
- Age estimation, high-privacy defaults, monitoring or tracking signals, and privacy tools remain the most durable enforceable elements in the current record.
- Restrictions tied to data use, dark patterns, and some assessment duties face vagueness and constitutional challenges.
- NetChoice and major platform companies remain the main challengers, while California officials continue to frame the law as a child-safety measure.
- The topic is coherent and fairly stable, but the legal scope of the law remains unsettled and may change again on remand.
- The signal is moderate to dense and ongoing, with most evidence drawn from recent court decisions rather than historical background.
History
This topic is new, but as new articles are added to it this area will summarize shifts, changes and expansions of the issues.
Featured
03-16-2026
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals partially lifts injunction on CAADCA in March 2026 in California, enabling age verification and privacy obligations.
03-23-2026
NetChoice II on March 12, 2026: the Ninth Circuit addressed First Amendment and vagueness challenges to California's Age-Appropriate Design Code Act covering online child data practices.
03-02-2026
Supreme Court blocked California laws restricting sharing transgender students information with parents on March 2 in the United States.
Timeline: 642 Days
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Additional Articles
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9th circuit court of appeals narrowed enforcement of california age-appropriate design act on march 12 in pasadena, california.
On January 20, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a mixed ruling in In re Apple Data Privacy Litigation, narrowing interception-based privacy claims over app data collection.
9th circuit revives parts of AB2273 in california in 2024 to protect minors privacy rights.
Los Angeles County Superior Court on May 27, 2026 dismissed a CIPA lawsuit alleging NetScout website tracking SDK collection as outside CIPA's telephonic scope.
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Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals narrows enforcement of California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act on March 12 in California.
The Ninth Circuit partially vacated a California AADC injunction on March 12, 2026, permitting some minors' privacy obligations to start April 2 unless further action is taken.
9th Circuit Court of Appeals narrows enforcement of California age-appropriate design code act on March 12 2025 in California.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals narrows enforcement of California child protection law on online platforms on March 12.