State legislatures have continued to enact privacy laws aimed at protecting kids and teens despite significant—and often successful—legal challenges that largely focus on First Amendment flaws. Some laws have recently gone into effect, or will become effective soon, while others are not slated to take effect until 2027. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) remains the primary federal law protecting children’s online privacy (updated implementing regulations took effect earlier this year, with a compliance deadline of April 22, 2026) and bars inconsistent state laws. While there have been some recent legislative efforts at the federal level to expand children and teens’ privacy protections (including a bill introduced this week to regulate the use of AI chatbots and companions by minors), these have failed to pass. However, states continue to pursue their own online privacy laws with a goal of enhancing protections for children and teenagers, particularly around social media use and exposure to AI. The unabated pace of legislative action reflects rare bipartisan support for protecting kids and teens, adding to the growing patchwork of laws that now make up the state privacy landscape. Because these laws do not simply cover websites or services “directed to children,” as defined in COPPA, but to websites and services that are “likely to be accessed” by children, they often effectively regulate businesses that target general, largely adult-only audiences. Many of these laws are therefore being challenged as overbroad, unconstitutional restrictions on speech.
We review recent developments affecting children’s privacy, and potentially the broader online privacy landscape, including current and likely challenges on the horizon.
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