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States Tighten Kids’ Online Safety Rules

Coverage from EPIC - Electronic Privacy Information Center, JD Supra, and others

Articles

27

Active Days

168

The Topic

States Tighten Kids’ Online Safety Rules topic image

U.S. lawmakers and regulators are tightening requirements for online services used by minors, with South Carolina’s age-appropriate design law requiring safety-by-design measures, data minimization, user controls, limits on targeted advertising, and independent audits. The law is already facing a constitutional and federal-preemption challenge, while Congress remains divided over whether federal legislation should impose a duty of care, require age verification, or preserve stricter state rules. The policy direction is toward greater platform accountability, but the final legal framework remains unsettled.

First Article: 02/06/26

Latest Article: 07/23/26

History

07/23/20260 new articles

The story is mostly stable, but the framing has broadened from a South Carolina-specific dispute into a wider U.S. policy fight over how minors’ online safety rules should be structured. The current version also sharpens the federal debate by emphasizing competing views on duty of care, age verification, and state preemption.

07/22/20261 new articles

South Carolina has moved from proposed child-privacy tightening to an enacted age-appropriate design law now in force, and the fight has shifted into litigation. At the federal level, the KIDS Act also advanced, but its Senate prospects remain contested, keeping the policy landscape fragmented.

  • South Carolina’s design code took effect immediately on February 5, 2026.
  • The law requires annual independent audits.
  • NetChoice filed a federal lawsuit against the South Carolina law.
  • The House passed the KIDS Act on June 30, 2026.
  • Vermont’s age-appropriate design code is scheduled to take effect in 2027.
07/17/20269 new articles

The story has shifted from a general tightening of child online privacy rules to a more concrete enforcement and litigation phase, with state laws, challenges, and federal action now shaping the battleground. Age assurance and product-design obligations are becoming the dominant compliance model, while privacy concerns over verification systems remain a central constraint.

  • State laws and proposals are being challenged or delayed.
  • House lawmakers advanced the KIDS Act.
  • Senate agreement on the KIDS Act remains uncertain.
  • New design rules target dark patterns, compulsive features, and location data.
  • State attorneys general are now key enforcers.
06/28/202610 new articles

The story has broadened from a South Carolina minors-privacy fight into a wider federal-and-state push on child online safety, with age assurance now becoming the central compliance mechanism. The new coverage also adds a stronger privacy tradeoff debate around identity checks, encryption, messaging limits, and data broker restrictions.

  • Federal KIDS Act now leads the child online safety agenda.
  • State activity now includes Alabama and Vermont, not just South Carolina.
  • New proposals target direct messages and disappearing messages.
  • Data broker transparency and minors' data sales limits are newly prominent.
  • The debate now includes encryption and lawful speech concerns.
05/30/2026Topic Formed

South Carolina has moved to tighten privacy rules for minors online through age-appropriate design laws, default protections, audit requirements, and age estimation obligations, while the new rules are already drawing constitutional and preemption challenges.