EPIC Testifies in Support of New Jersey Kids Code Act

On Thursday, EPIC Counsel Suzanne Bernstein testified in support of the New Jersey Kids Code Act, an age-appropriate design code that targets specific data use and design practices that harm minors online. The bill was voted out of committee and now moves on to the NJ Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. 

The bill regulates design features that we know contribute to compulsive use, like infinite scroll, auto-play, push notifications, and algorithmic feeds that behaviorally profile users. It also sets minors’ accounts to the highest level of privacy settings as a default, and it includes strong data minimization requirements to limit the amount of data that companies collect about minors in the first place. 

The NJKCA 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 NJ Kids Code are similar to the model bill that EPIC released earlier this year. 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.