Scrutiny Intensifies on Digital Consent and Children’s Privacy

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UNITED STATES

Bill Banning Targeted Advertising to Children/Teens Sent to AR Governor

The Arkansas Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act has passed the Arkansas legislature and, if signed by the Governor, will go into effect July 1, 2026. The law will place certain requirements and restrictions on websites, online services, online applications and mobile applications that are either directed at children or teens under age 17 or that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information from children or teens. 

TAKEAWAY

Most notable among the restrictions is a prohibition (without an opportunity to obtain consent) of targeted advertising to children and teens, although first-party and contextual advertising or excluded from the prohibition, along with collection of personal data solely for measurement purposes. Data collection for all other purposes requires either parental (for children under 13) or individual (for teens 13-16) consent, unless the processing falls into certain exceptions, such as for maintenance or fraud prevention. 

EUROPE

Hamburg DPA Conducts Large-Scale Review of Website Consent Practices

The HmbBfDI announced its review of 1,000 randomly-selected websites, with an aim to raise awareness of tracking among operators of websites based in Hamburg and to improve the compliance of their websites. The audit, motivated by complaints that some websites use tracking by third-party services without consent, revealed that 185 websites incorrectly integrated Google Analytics, Google Maps, Google Ads, YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Microsoft Advertising, Pinterest, and/or LinkedIn services.

TAKEAWAY

The announcement notes that, although third-party services that track user browsing behavior, such as those reviewed (e.g., map services, social plugins, and analytics services), may only be used by applicable Hamburg entities with the consent of the site visitors, it has been demonstrated in numerous complaint procedures that “website operators are often unaware of which third-party services are integrated into their offerings, nor of which data protection requirements must be met when using them”.   

A Little Privacy, Please weekly recaps are provided for general, informational purposes only, do not constitute legal advice, and should not be relied upon for legal decision-making. Please consult an attorney to determine how legal updates may impact you or your business.