Privacy and Online Safety Laws for Minors: Navigating Evolving Compliance, Business, and Technology Challenges

This CLE webinar will review the federal and state laws shaping U.S. children's online privacy law. The faculty will focus on the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), state rules imposing stricter consent, data use, and advertising limits for minors, state children's privacy laws extending beyond the under-13 threshold, age-appropriate design codes (AADCs), social media laws, and more. The program will also highlight business practices to mitigate risk and support compliance, including privacy audits, incident response, enforcement investigations, and private litigation risk.

There is growing concern about youth mental health, manipulative digital design, and the online exploitation of minors. Federal and state legislation continues to expand protections for personal information collected from children and teens as evidence builds documenting many instances where data is collected without consent. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has urged businesses to prepare for action targeting the monetization and profiling of children. FTC and California enforcement actions have examined the sharing of teen and minor data, including business controls on disclosure and the oversight of third-party software development kits.

 A California jury in a bellwether case ordered Meta Platforms Inc. and Google's YouTube to pay more than $3 million in compensatory damages for the deliberate design of an addictive social media platform and the severe mental health harm it caused the plaintiff as a teen and preteen. New Mexico jurors also sided with state prosecutors, awarding $375 million in fines for violations of the state's Unfair Practices Act, and 40 state attorneys general have filed similar lawsuits. These verdicts, along with rapid state legislative activity, reflect growing societal demand for laws protecting minors from the mental health, safety, and autonomy risks posed by pervasive influences of digital platforms.

Businesses offering online services to children span a wide range of products and industries, including gaming, telecommunications, media, technology, streaming, electronics and Internet of Things (IoT) manufacturers, retail, banking and payments, travel, and more. All of them must comply with COPPA, the foundational privacy and online safety regulation, along with an evolving patchwork of state laws. Differences in terminology, age thresholds, and obligations across state laws create operational and compliance challenges for businesses operating nationwide. During this presentation, the panel will analyze various categories of online safety and privacy laws for minors: consent laws, including recent COPPA updates; privacy laws with minor-specific requirements; AADCs; laws establishing age-range signals; targeted advertising; and social media laws. The faculty will also address scalable compliance strategies and key considerations when working with third-party vendors.

Listen as our panel examines evolving state and federal legal frameworks, including new COPPA regulations aimed at protecting the online privacy of children and teens. Attendees will gain practical guidance to help businesses of all sizes address regulatory developments, enforcement activity, privacy litigation exposure, and the challenges posed by emerging technology.