Arkansas Advances Youngsters and Teen Privateness Legal guidelines

On April 21, 2025, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed three legal guidelines increasing privateness protections for youngsters and youths. The Content material Creation Safety Act handed the legislature and is pending signature. This weblog summarizes the statutes’ key takeaways.

Arkansas Youngsters and Teenagers’ On-line Privateness Act

Arkansas Youngsters and Teenagers’ On-line Privateness Act (HB 1717) is modeled after the proposed enlargement of the Youngsters’s On-line Privateness Safety Act (“COPPA”) within the federal COPPA 2.0 invoice that stalled in 2024. HB 1717 gives privateness protections to people between ages 13 and 16 (“teenagers”). The legislation goes into impact on July 1, 2026.

• Applicability: HB 1717 applies to “operators” of an internet site, on-line service, on-line utility, or cellular utility which are “directed at youngsters or teenagers” or when operators have precise data that they’re gathering private data from youngsters or teenagers.

• Focused Promoting: HB 1717 prohibits an operator of an internet site, on-line service, on-line app, or cellular app directed at youngsters or teenagers or with precise data that it’s gathering private data from youngsters or teenagers to gather private data for the needs of focused promoting. There are just a few exceptions comparable to “promoting based mostly on the context of a client’s present search question or go to to an internet site or on-line utility.”

• Discover, Consent, and Client Rights: An operator that has precise data that it’s gathering private data from youngsters or teenagers should:
  • Present clear and conspicuous discover of sure makes use of, processing, and disclosures of private knowledge in addition to the rights accessible to folks;
  • Receive consent for the gathering, use, or disclosure of private data from a teen or a dad or mum of a teen, topic to exceptions comparable to offering the particular product requested by a teen or to conduct the operator’s inside enterprise operations;
  • Present the chance to request deletion of the account of a kid or teen;
  • Present the chance to problem the accuracy of and proper inaccurate private data of a kid or teen; and
  • Present a method for a teen or a toddler’s dad or mum to acquire private data collected from that teen or baby, respectively.

• Information Minimization: There are just a few knowledge minimization necessities layered all through HB 1717. For instance,an operator that has precise data that it’s gathering private data from youngsters shall “not require a toddler to reveal extra private data than in all fairness essential to take part as a situation in (a) a sport; (b) the providing of a prize; or (c) one other exercise.”

• Enforcement: The Legal professional Basic has unique authority to implement HB 1717.

SB 611

SB 611 amends the Arkansas Social Media Security Act (the “Act”)—codified at Ark. Code § 4-88-1402—which was completely enjoined by a federal district courtroom on March 31, 2025. The courtroom enjoined the unique Social Media Security Act on the grounds that it’s a facially-content based mostly restriction on speech and unconstitutionally imprecise.

The Act required social media platforms to confirm the age of all account-seekers who reside in Arkansas by means of a third-party vendor utilizing both authorities identification or different cheap age verification strategies. It additional prohibited social media firms from allowing minor customers to turn out to be an account holder with out the categorical consent of a dad or mum or authorized guardian.

The SB 611 amendments to the Social Media Security Act are efficient one 12 months after SB 611’s enactment on April 21, 2026.

• Definitions: SB 611 excludes entities such electronic mail service suppliers, not-for-profit organizations, colleges, business-to-business software program, frequent carriers, and broadband web companies from the definition of a “lined social media platform.” SB 611 redefines “minor” as a person below the age of 16 from a person below the age of 18.

• Product Options for Minors: Social media platforms are prohibited from participating in sure specified practices with minors, together with “notifications, advisable content material, synthetic sense of accomplishment, or engagement with on-line bots that seem human.” Social media platforms should be certain that the default settings for minor customers are people who present essentially the most protecting stage of management for privateness and security on the platform, together with ceasing notifications throughout night hours.

• Product Options for Dad and mom: SB 611 requires that social media platforms develop an simply accessible on-line dashboard that: (i) permits mother and father of a minor consumer to view and perceive their baby’s use of the social media platform, and (ii) gives instruments for a dad or mum to limit their baby’s entry to the platform or parts of the platform.

• Necessities for Social Media Platforms: Social media platforms should conduct a quarterly audit to make sure that the platform’s software program, apps, or different merchandise meet sure specs. Moreover, platforms should implement technological measures to stop circumvention of age verification protocols, comparable to limiting using false or repeated credentials.

• Enforcement: The Social Media Security Act beforehand licensed the Legal professional Basic to provoke enforcement actions towards social media firms that violated the Act. SB 611 creates a non-public proper of motion for folks or guardians of minor youngsters towards a social media firm that violates Ark. Code § 4-88-1402.

• Penalties: SB 611 will increase the penalties for any social media platform in violation of the Act to $10,000 per violation, with every day {that a} minor is allowed to improperly entry a social media platform constituting a separate violation.

SB 612

SB 612 creates a person personal proper of motion towards social media platforms that trigger its customers hurt.

• Prohibited Actions: Social media platforms are prohibited from utilizing a design, algorithm, or characteristic that it is aware of, or ought to know by means of the train of cheap care, causes a consumer to: (i) buy a managed substance; (ii) develop an consuming dysfunction; (iii) commit or try to commit suicide; or (iv) develop or maintain an habit to the social media platform.
  • Secure Harbor: The social media platform doesn’t violate the legislation if it corrects inside 30 days a design, algorithm, or characteristic that it discovers presents greater than a de minimis danger of the listed harms. This secure harbor doesn’t apply to options that trigger a consumer to commit or try to commit suicide.

• Enforcement: SB 612 creates a non-public proper of motion for all customers of a social media platform that knowingly and willfully commits a prohibited exercise.

• Penalties: SB 612 creates penalties of $10,000 for every understanding and willful violation of the legislation. SB 612 additionally creates a separate reason behind motion for folks or guardians of minors who try to commit suicide or commit suicide due to publicity to on-line content material selling self-harm or suicide. Social media platforms that knowingly and willfully hosted, promoted, or shared any such content material are responsible for precise and punitive damages, prices of medical therapies, funeral prices, and punitive damages, amongst others.
  • Social media platforms usually are not responsible for displaying content material that’s created or hosted fully by a 3rd social gathering. Civil actions have to be introduced inside 4 years after the reason for motion accrued.

Little one Content material Creation Safety Act

The Content material Creation Safety Act (the “Act” or HB 1975) creates privateness protections and compensation necessities for minors which are featured in vlog, podcast, social media, and streaming content material. If signed by the governor, the Act can be efficient on July 1, 2026. Whereas a lot of the Act focuses on the obligations that content material creators have in direction of the minors featured of their content material, the Act imposes obligations on social media platforms, together with:

• Privateness Removing Requests: A social media platform should present an simply accessible mechanism for minors featured in a content material creator’s content material or an grownup who was featured in content material after they had been a minor to (i) delete the content material from the social media platform or (ii) edit the content material to take away the minor’s personal data if the minor is uniquely identifiable. A social media platform should notify the content material creator of their obligation to take away the content material inside 30 days.
  • Upon notification from a social media platform, the content material creator should both delete the content material or edit the content material to take away the minor’s uniquely identifiable data inside 72 hours of receipt of the notification. If the content material creator doesn’t act inside 30 days, the minor could carry an motion towards the creator for injunctive reduction, damages, and legal professional’s prices.
  • If a content material creator fails to take away or edit content material inside 30 days, the social media platform should take cheap steps to take away the content material except: (i) the minor featured within the content material doesn’t submit ample or correct data of their request or (ii) the social media platform finds that the content material is sufficiently newsworthy to outweigh the privateness pursuits of the featured minor.

• Content material that Deliberately Sexualizes a Minor: Social media platforms should develop and implement a risk-based technique to reduce the dangers associated to the monetization of the intentional sexualization of minors within the context of content material creation. The technique could embody insurance policies governing content material and monetization, content material restrictions, and high quality assurance processes, amongst others. Social media platforms should make details about its insurance policies and settings publicly accessible and simply comprehensible to each adults and minors.