Online safety, particularly for children, has been a pressing concern as the Internet becomes more entrenched in our everyday lives. Now, California has moved to tackle children’s safety online by enshrining it in law, with the governor signing the California Age Appropriate Design Code Act.
According to CNET the bill was passed unanimously by the California Senate. Now, a working group for Children’s Data Protection will be established to ascertain the best way to implement this new act. They will report their findings to the legislature by 2024, when the new law will be enacted.
What the Act proposes
Introduced by California State Assembly members Buffy Wicks and Jordan Cunningham, the bill aims to improve online experiences for young people by protecting their privacy and shielding them from harmful people, behaviors, and material.
The code will work by targeting the actions of tech companies that meet one or more of the following criteria:
- 50% of its annual revenue comes from selling or sharing the personal information of consumers
- Buys or sells 100,000 or more users’ personal information
- Makes $25 million or more in gross revenue annually
Any tech company that meets these criteria must stop taking specific actions, such as:
- Selling the personal information of children
- Profiling children and collecting personal data unless it can be proven to be beneficial for the child,
- Utilizing features that are detrimental to children’s wellbeing (such as autoplay on videos)
- Tracking children’s locations
Relevant tech companies must also ensure default privacy settings are as private as they can be, establish the age range of young users, design appropriate experiences based on the child’s age, provide privacy information in clear, understandable language, and more.
If companies violate these provisions, they could be liable to pay fines of up to $7,500 per affected child or teen.
Advancing kids’ safety laws in the US
While some critics are doubtful over the vague language of the California act, others are more hopeful. Once enacted, tech companies like TikTok and Instagram will be held accountable for children’s mental and physical safety online, at least in California. Online safety advocates hope it will spur similar laws in the rest of the US. According to The Washington Post, the US senate panel has previously advanced two proposals concerning children’s data protection and opting out of harmful algorithms; however, top Senate lawmakers have prevented both from moving forward.
Conclusion
While it remains to be seen how the California Age Appropriate Design Code Act will be implemented, it is certainly a step in the right direction when it comes to keeping kids safe online.
Cora is a digital copywriter for SSLs.com. Having eight years of experience in online content creation, she is a versatile writer with an interest in a wide variety of topics, ranging from technology to marketing.