AI Frontier Institute

"New Jersey Kids Code Act"; adopts New Jersey Age-Appropriate Design Code and requires certain online service providers to implement certain measures concerning minors' use of online service.

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New Jersey Assembly Bill A4015 (Third Reprint), known as the 'New Jersey Age-Appropriate Design Code' (Section 1), addresses online privacy and safety for minors by imposing design and data requirements on covered online service providers operating in New Jersey. The Legislature cites a youth mental health crisis and correlation between high internet usage and depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation as the basis for the bill (Section 2). 'Covered online service providers' are defined in Section 3 as entities conducting business in New Jersey whose services are reasonably likely to be accessed by minors, with annual gross revenue exceeding $25 million or processing personal data of at least 25,000 consumers. Under Section 4, providers must configure all default privacy settings for covered children and minors to the highest privacy level, including restricting account visibility, direct messaging with adults, location display, search engine indexing, and interaction counts. Section 5 requires a prominent reporting mechanism for harms. Section 6 prohibits default notifications to minors, bans notifications between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and during school hours, prohibits targeting minors with ads for drugs, tobacco, gambling, or alcohol, and bans dark patterns. Section 7 restricts use of minors' personal data solely to the purpose for which it was collected and limits algorithmic recommendation systems to specified bases. Section 8 prohibits using age-verification data for other purposes and requires deletion within 15 days. Section 9 requires an accessible account deletion mechanism no more cumbersome than account creation, with unpublishing within 10 business days and permanent deletion within 45 calendar days. Sections 10 through 12 require user interfaces for algorithmic preference controls, real-time signals when geolocation is collected, and reasonable steps to prevent compulsive use. Enforcement under Section 14 allows the Attorney General to bring civil actions and authorizes injured minors or their parents to sue for $5,000 per violation or treble damages, whichever is greater, plus punitive damages for knowing or reckless violations, injunctive relief, and attorney's fees. The bill takes effect on the first day of the 13th month after enactment (Section 17).

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