Child Privacy is coming to the Colorado Privacy Act

The introduction of SB24-041, the latest proposed amendment to the Colorado Privacy Act, would prohibit controllers from targeting children with advertisements and from “using a system design feature to significantly increase, sustain, or extend a minor's use of the service, product, or feature” among other prohibitions.

In other words, if you know children use your service, you cannot target them with advertisements off the service or design it to prolong engagement with those minors (without parental consent). Advertising and increasing engagement are of course two of the biggest objectives of most internet services, so if SB24-041 became law it would effectively force popular games and sites to procure parental consent or redesign.

Regardless of whether the bill passes, this tells me two things: first, state privacy law continues its collision course with major controllers, using child privacy to garner public support. Second, targeted advertisements and cookies are on the way out; if you’re subject to the Colorado Privacy Act, implement the Universal Opt Out Mechanism by July 1, 2024. More here: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb24-041