EPIC Commends California For Protecting User Privacy and Speech in Proposed Age Assurance Rules

Yesterday, EPIC filed comments in response to the California Department of Justice’s proposed rules to implement the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act (SB 976). EPIC commended California for the proposed rules, which align strongly with the privacy- and speech-protective principles for age assurance implementation that EPIC urged the state to follow in a comment submitted last year. In this latest round of comments, EPIC recommended additional tweaks to further enhance privacy and speech protections for users.

EPIC has been an active supporter of SB 976 since its passage in 2024. EPIC has filed three amicus briefs in support of the law’s constitutionality—one at every stage of the litigation so far—which have been cited and relied on by the courts in upholding the law against industry challenge. EPIC has also urged New York to follow its privacy- and speech-protective age assurance principles in two comments during the state’s rulemaking on New York SAFE for Kids, which is similar to California’s SB 976.