United States of America: Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (S. 69) passed by Vermont Senate

On 13 March 2025, the Senate of Vermont passed the Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (S. 69) to the House of Representatives. The Act would apply to covered businesses that generate a majority of annual revenue from online services and whose products, services, or features are reasonably likely to be accessed by minors. It would impose a duty of care requiring that data processing and design do not cause reasonably foreseeable emotional distress, compulsive use, or discrimination to minors. The Act would mandate default privacy settings configured to the highest level for minors and would require transparency disclosures regarding algorithmic recommendation systems and data usage. It would prohibit specific data practices, including non-essential data collection and push notifications between midnight and 6 am, and would impose safeguards on age assurance data by limiting its collection, use, combination, and retention. The Senate-passed version would amend the exclusion provisions to exempt small entities processing the data of fewer than 25’000 consumers annually, or up to 50’000 consumers with less than USD 1 million in revenue. Violations would be treated as unfair and deceptive acts in commerce, with rulemaking authority granted to the Attorney General. The Act would enter into force on 1 July 2026