State and Federal Developments in Minors’ Privacy in 2026
Legislatures across multiple states and at the federal level have been actively advancing privacy protections for minors in 2026, with a notable split emerging between different regulatory approaches to app marketplace oversight. The activity continues a years-long wave of children's privacy lawmaking that has accelerated since 2023.
Why this matters: Kids' privacy law is moving fast, and the rules are fragmenting. Depending on which state a child lives in, the obligations on app stores, platforms, and developers can look completely different. That patchwork is hard for parents to navigate and easy for companies to exploit by shopping for the friendliest jurisdiction. The app marketplace angle matters because it shifts responsibility upstream — toward the distributors, not just the apps. Whether that actually protects kids depends on how enforcement works and who is watching when it does not.
Who should care: Lawyers · Compliance · General readers · Privacy officers · Policy
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