EPIC Offers Comments on Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code Rulemaking 

On Friday, October 2, EPIC provided comments on two proposed rules announced by the Vermont Attorney General implementing Vermont’s Age-Appropriate Design Code. The rules identify addictive design practices that may not be used on minors and set out which methods tech companies may use to determine a user’s age.  

EPIC’s comments encourage the Attorney General to more specifically identify abusive design practices that companies may not deploy to minors, and suggest ways to ensure age-assurance techniques preserve privacy while effectively protecting kids. 

The Attorney General’s rulemaking is crucial to the effectiveness of Vermont’s Age-Appropriate Design Code, which was passed in 2025 and is set to take effect in January 2027. EPIC was actively involved in pushing for the law, which is one of the strongest kids’ safety laws in the country and serves as the basis for EPIC’s Model Age-Appropriate Design Code. But the law relies on effective rulemaking for its prohibitions on abusive design for minors to work. 

As EPIC’s comments explain, the Attorney General’s proposed rules are a strong start but need revisions. In particular, EPIC recommends changes to the age-assurance rulemaking to prevent companies from needing to verify the ages of all users and instead only require age verification before a feature prohibited for minors can be turned on. This would reduce the burden on users, protect consumers’ privacy, all while encouraging platforms to turn manipulative features off for everyone by default. 

As some of the earliest social media safety laws at last begin to come into effect, EPIC will continue to engage—in Vermont and elsewhere—with regulators to ensure these laws are implemented effectively and constitutionally. 

EPIC’s full comments to the Vermont Attorney General can be found here and here.