EPIC Encourages New Hampshire Lawmakers to Enact Age-Appropriate Design Code

Yesterday EPIC submitted written testimony to the New Hampshire House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee supporting the passage of HB 1650, the New Hampshire Age-Appropriate Design Code (NH AADC). The NH AADC mirrors the Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code, which is the strongest kids’ online safety law enacted to date.

The NH AADC protects minors’ privacy, enhances their autonomy, and ensures their online safety by prohibiting abusive data and design practices. It does not ban minors from social media, and it does not block minors from accessing any type of content. Like the Vermont law, it was carefully drafted to withstand legal challenges from Big Tech firms that profit from our children’s data.

Significant provisions of the New Hampshire Age-Appropriate Design Code include:

• Requiring covered businesses to configure minors’ default privacy settings to the highest level of privacy.
• Providing minors with the power to limit unwanted adult contact.
• Giving minors control over the systems that deliver them content by requiring companies to respect their express preferences, not simply using surveillance data.  
• Restricting push notifications unless minors explicitly opt-in.

EPIC regularly advocates for privacy for minors online and platform accountability and governance policies that protect the speech, privacy, anti-discrimination, and safety rights of internet users, including minors. In court, EPIC has filed amicus briefs in cases involving the intersection of privacy, kids’ safety, and First Amendment.