Deceptive Patterns
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Age-Appropriate Design Code Act

Author
California Legislature
Date
15 Sept 2022
Publisher
California Legislative Information
Focus
Ethics & Responsibility, Law & Policy
Category
Regulator or Lawmaker

California child-protection statute restricts dark patterns that encourage children to disclose personal data or forgo privacy protections; implementation remains affected by NetChoice litigation.

(1) Existing law, the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, establishes the California Privacy Protection Agency. Existing law vests the agency with full administrative power, authority, and jurisdiction to implement and enforce the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 and requires the agency to be governed by a board. Existing law requires businesses to protect consumer privacy and information, make certain disclosures to consumers regarding a consumer’s rights under the act in a specified manner, and disclose to consumers that a consumer has the right to request specific pieces of information, including the categories of information those businesses have collected about that consumer.

Existing law, the Parent’s Accountability and Child Protection Act, requires a person or business that conducts business in California and that seeks to sell specified products or services to take reasonable steps to ensure that the purchaser is of legal age at the time of purchase or delivery, including verifying the age of the purchaser. Existing law prohibits a person or business that is required to comply with these provisions from retaining, using, or disclosing any information it receives in an effort to verify age from a purchaser or recipient for any other purpose, except as specified, and subjects a business or person that violates these provisions to a civil penalty.