Children’s privacy regulations globally are shifting away from notice-and-consent models toward outright access restrictions, age-appropriate design mandates, categorical advertising prohibitions, and app-store-level age verification, as illustrated by Australia’s December 2025 enforcement of its under-16 social media ban. In the United States, similar legislative efforts have faced significant First Amendment challenges that have stalled most state laws restricting minor access to social media and AI platforms, while age-appropriate design requirements inspired by California’s law have been enacted in several states. Several states, including Oregon, have enacted categorical bans on targeted advertising to known minors, while app-store-level age verification laws imposing age-signal obligations on app developers are also subject to active litigation. Companies operating consumer-facing digital services should map where minors interact with their products, review advertising practices involving teens, and prepare for the eventual downstream effects of age-signal regimes.
