Hey there --

Today, Governor Newsom signed the California Age-Appropriate Design Code (AADC) into law, a groundbreaking measure to protect the safety of children and teens online:

Over the past months, we’ve been working with a broad array of groups to get this historic bipartisan bill over the finish line. We partnered with two youth-led organizations, Log Off Movement and Tech(nically) Politics, to launch the Design It For Us campaign (that even got a shoutout from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex).

The California Age Appropriate Design Code builds on the success of the UK’s Age Appropriate Design Code and will change the way young people use and experience digital platforms by: 

• Requiring online platforms that children are likely to access be designed by default for their protection.
• Maintaining a high level of privacy settings by default.
• Providing easily accessible reporting tools for privacy and inappropriate behavior concerns.
• Prohibiting covered platforms from collecting and retaining any personal information for users under age 18 that is unnecessary for the provided service.

California’s leadership in protecting kids online with the Age Appropriate Design Code sends a strong and clear message that we can take on Big Tech and win! This legislation offers a roadmap for Congress – and other states – to follow suit with greater protections for kids' health, safety, and privacy. Our movement is only getting started.

Onwards,

Nicole Gill 
Co-founder & Executive Director
Accountable Tech

We see the irony of asking you to take action on the same platforms we’re fighting to hold accountable, but they are… well… dominant. We have to reach people where they are in order to level the playing field -- and we’re ready to bring the fight right to their own platforms.