Children’s Privacy in 2026: From Australia’s Under-16 Social Media Ban to a Shift Beyond Notice-and-Consent in the United States
Recent developments in children’s privacy and online safety regulation reflect a global shift away from notice-and-consent frameworks toward access restrictions, design mandates, categorical advertising prohibitions, and ecosystem-level age-assurance mechanisms. Using Australia’s under-16 social media ban as a case study, this article examines four converging regulatory trends emerging across the United States, Europe, and the United Kingdom. These developments increasingly affect product design, advertising, and data governance decisions for companies operating consumer-facing digital services.
Reviewing The Legal Landscape Of Social Media For Minors
A Mid-Year Privacy Check-In – Important Developments and New Compliance Obligations for Privacy Laws
During the first half of 2025, state legislators and regulators have been working overtime to enact new data privacy laws and expand existing laws, all of which are likely to have an impact on businesses in the remainder of the year and into 2026. These efforts reflect key themes such as increased regulation of teen data and social media platforms, enhanced restrictions on the collection and sale of geolocation and biometric data, simplified opt-out mechanisms for tracking technologies, and broader obligations concerning consumer health data and data minimization. In parallel, significant regulatory activity surrounding AI has emerged, including a new federal AI Action Plan and proposed amendments to the CCPA addressing automated decision-making technologies, alongside a wave of new state AI laws.
Texas Age Verification Law Upheld: U.S. Supreme Court Balances Free Speech and Child Protection in the Digital Age
On June 27, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, a groundbreaking decision with significant implications for online content regulation. The Court upheld a Texas statute — House Bill 1181 (HB 1181) — requiring commercial websites that host a substantial amount of sexually explicit material to verify users’ ages before granting access. In doing so, the Court applied intermediate scrutiny and upheld the statute as a constitutionally permissible measure to protect minors from harmful content.
Colorado Finalizes Privacy Act Rules: Key Updates for Businesses
The new year brings with it several state privacy law developments, including the effective dates for comprehensive privacy legislation in Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire and New Jersey. Among this flurry of new state law obligations, however, privacy officers should not lose sight of continuing developments in states that helped pioneer the wave of state privacy laws, such as in Colorado.
The Legal Battles Taking Shape in the Clash Over Internet Content
A federal law known as Section 230 has provided a powerful legal shield for internet companies for nearly three decades. Designed to “promote the internet,” it protects platforms from civil liability for content posted to their sites by third parties.
Heightened Focus in the EU for the Protection of Minors Online
The protection of minors online continues to be a focus for EU regulators. Following the publication last year by the European Parliament of its guidelines on online age verification methods for children, the European Commission has recently announced it will be holding a dedicated stakeholder workshop in September 2024 to discuss guidelines for age verification and protecting minors. Whilst the issue has been flagged as a priority by the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) and we are seeing an increase in guidelines and (in some cases) laws addressing the issue at a national Member State level, this is also a focus of the new EU Digital Services Act (“DSA”).
New Hampshire’s Comprehensive Data Privacy Legislation
As the state boasting the headquarters of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, many have been watching the development of the New Hampshire comprehensive consumer data privacy law with great interest, wondering if it may be a practical model for the nation. On March 6, 2024, Governor Chris Sununu signed SB 255-FN (“the Act”) into law. In some respects, New Hampshire’s privacy law is comparatively more moderate than some other state laws. For instance, the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s rulemaking authority under the Act is currently limited to establishing requirements for privacy notices. This narrow extension of rulemaking authority is a divergence from the broad rulemaking authority granted by California, Colorado, and other states. The New Hampshire law does not allow for a private right of action. There is a right to cure alleged violations through the first year the law is in force; afterwards, the opportunity to cure is left to the Attorney General’s discretion. The legislation will take effect on January 1, 2025.
FTC Proposes Significant and Sweeping Changes to COPPA and Requests Public Comment
On January 11, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) published its Notice of Proposed Rule Making (“NPRM”) seeking to update the FTC’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) Rule in the Federal Register. Among other things, the proposed changes would require more granular privacy notices, require fairly detailed identification of, and parental consent to, third-party data sharing (including targeted advertising), expand the scope of personal information subject to COPPA, make it easier for parents to provide consent via text message, clarify various requirements around EdTech, including school authorization for parental consent, and impose significant new programmatic information security and data retention requirements.
UK and Australian Governments Sign “world-first” Online Safety and Security Memorandum of Understanding
On 20 February 2024, the UK Government and the Australian Federal Government co-signed a historic Online Safety and Security Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signifying the bilateral cooperation between the two countries to help boost their respective online safety regimes. Notably, this is the first arrangement of its kind, with the MoU intending to encompass a wide range of digital online safety and security issues. These include illegal content, child safety, age assurance, technology facilitated gender-based violence, and addressing harms caused by rapidly evolving technologies, such as generative artificial intelligence.
