EPIC Testifies in Support of Michigan Kids Code

EPIC Counsel Suzanne Bernstein testified yesterday in support of SB 758, the Michigan Kids Code. The MI Kids Code is part of a package of bills that the Michigan Senate Finance, Insurance, and Consumer Protection Committee is considering that would provide privacy and online safety protections for kids.

EPIC’s testimony explained why the MI Kids Code model is the right approach to mitigate harms that kids face online. Companies design their platforms to extract as much time and data as possible and, in the process, they prey on minors’ psychological vulnerabilities for profit. The MI Kids Code would require companies building these products to take responsibility for their harmful design choices and to start integrating privacy and safety by design.

Many of the provisions in the MI Kids Code are similar to the model bill that EPIC released earlier this month. The EPIC Model Age-Appropriate Design Code protects kids online by prohibiting addictive design features for minors, giving them control over their privacy and preventing companies from designing products to promote compulsive use. In drafting the model bill, EPIC relied on its deep privacy knowledge, significant state policy experience, and expertise in speech-protective platform regulation. EPIC’s Model AADC was recently introduced in Georgia and Kansas.

Learn more about EPIC’s Model Age-Appropriate Design Code here.