This story was produced in partnership with Agência Pública as part of a series on how regulatory solutions adopted in Brazil could point the way for the U.S. Reporting by Colin Lecher and Maria Martha Bruno.
Alarming trends in teen mental health and increased social media use led California to pass a new wave of laws to protect kids online.
The state enacted protections to prevent children’s data from being sold, to give kids an opportunity to delete what they post, and to require businesses that target children to manage potential risks. Future legislation could ban social media altogether for many teens.
Some of those regulations face legal challenges, but together, the laws amount to some of the strictest privacy safeguards for children in the United States.
California’s laws are considered stronger than the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, which is geared toward protecting children’s privacy. Under that law, website operators must obtain parental permission before collecting information on kids under 13 if their site is targeted toward, or knowingly collects information about children.
