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North America

5Rights collaborates with a wide multi-stakeholder coalition to support legislative initiatives across North America and ensure children’s online experiences are safe by design.

Contents

Overview

While American companies have significantly shaped the internet as children know it today, there is a growing recognition across the US and Canada of the critical need for privacy and safety by design and default for children. This shift is reflected in laws inspired by and aligning with the standards of the Age Appropriate Design Code, backed by large multi-stakeholder coalitions. Several US states have passed legislation, and Canada is working towards stronger protections and the strengthening of children’s rights at the federal level.

“We must implement common sense regulations worldwide to ensure that new technologies make us healthier and better connected, not the opposite.”

Natalie, 17

Children’s experiences

In North America, over 80 million children navigate a digital world optimised for commercial exploitation. 96% of the 50 websites most popular with children in Canada employ an average of five trackers to continually collect data from children and, although 80% have privacy settings, only 12% set them to private by default.  As a result of manipulative design, an overwhelming majority of teenagers in the US report checking messages or notifications as soon as they appear, and many feel anxious when they don’t have their phones.

Our work in North America

5Rights collaborates with a wide multi-stakeholder coalition to support legislative initiatives across North America. In Canada, where 7 in 10 Canadians support stronger regulation of digital products and services, 5Rights works to ensure federal and provincial legislation reflects the broad consensus that children must have distinct protections. We engage with legislators, regulators, and civil society to hold tech companies accountable to integrate children’s privacy, safety, and right by design and default.

In the US, our efforts have led to the successful passage of laws, starting with California’s groundbreaking Age Appropriate Design Code (CAAADC), followed by similar legislation in Maryland, Nebraska and Vermont.

In Canada, 5Rights works with a diverse range of policymakers, regulators, civil society organizations, and academics. This collaboration has resulted in the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) making children’s privacy a strategic priority and working to develop a children’s privacy code.