Privacy & Cybersecurity Law Blog

On March 25, 2026, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office and the UK Office of Communications released a joint statement addressing the intersection of online safety and data protection in relation to age assurance.

On March 3, 2026, the Virginia Attorney General appealed a federal court’s grant of a preliminary injunction barring the enforcement of a new Virginia law requiring age verification and a time limit on social media use by minors under the age of 16 pending a final determination on the merits.    

On February 5, 2026, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed Alabama House Bill 161, the App Store Accountability Act, establishing age categorization, age verification and parental consent requirements for mobile application marketplace providers operating in Alabama, effective January 2027.

The Federal Trade Commission has issued a new Policy Statement encouraging the adoption of robust age‑verification technologies by pledging not to bring enforcement actions under the COPPA Rule against operators of general‑ or mixed‑audience sites that collect, use or disclose personal information solely to determine users’ ages, so long as long as they follow strict safeguards.

On January 28, 2026, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission held a workshop entitled “Protecting American Children: A Workshop to Explore Age Verification Technologies.”

On January 28, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission will hold a public workshop on age verification technologies.

On October 13, 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law the Digital Age Assurance Act, which introduces new requirements for age verification in software applications.

The Colorado Department of Law recently issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with proposed draft amendments to the Colorado Privacy Act rules.

On June 27, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld, by in a 6-3 vote, H.B. 1181, a Texas law that requires certain commercial websites publishing sexually explicit content to verify that visitors are 18 years of age or older.

On May 27, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the Texas App Store Accountability Act into law, which will require app stores to verify the age of users and comply with certain requirements and restrictions with respect to minor users under the age of 18. The Act takes effect on January 1, 2026.