To Create The Arkansas Children And Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act.
HB1082 creates the Arkansas Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act and adds a new subchapter to Title 4, Chapter 88 of the Arkansas Code. The bill regulates commercial websites, online services, online applications, mobile applications, and connected devices that are directed to children or that have actual knowledge, or knowledge fairly implied from the circumstances, that they are collecting information from children or teens. It defines key terms such as child, teen, operator, personal information, verifiable consent, and individual-specific advertising, and it sets out detailed rules for notice, consent, data collection, retention, disclosure, deletion, correction, and security.
Under the bill, operators generally may not collect or use children’s or teens’ personal information for individualized advertising, may not collect more information than is reasonably necessary for participation in an activity, and must provide clear notice of their practices. The bill requires verifiable parental consent for children and consent from teens for collection, use, or disclosure of personal information, while also giving parents and teens rights to access, delete, correct, and limit further use of that information. It also restricts storage or transfer of children’s or teens’ data outside the United States without disclosure, requires reasonable security practices, and treats certain violations as unfair or deceptive acts under Arkansas’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
The bill would expand Arkansas consumer-protection law by adding a new privacy subchapter to Title 4, Chapter 88 and by tying violations of its consent and disclosure provisions to the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act. It gives the Arkansas Attorney General authority to enforce the law through civil actions seeking injunctions, compliance, damages, restitution, and other relief. The measure would affect online businesses, app developers, and operators of connected devices that collect data from children or teens, while expressly excluding certain nonprofit entities and stating that it does not require affirmative age verification or age-gating.
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee discussion or votes, the overall sentiment appears protective and consumer-focused, with the legislation framed as a privacy safeguard for minors rather than a broad restriction on online services. The bill’s structure suggests an intent to balance child and teen privacy with continued access to online services by limiting only certain data practices and by allowing operators to continue service in some circumstances. No recorded opposition, amendments, or vote history is available in the provided materials to indicate divided sentiment.
The main points of potential contention are the scope of covered operators, the breadth of the definitions of personal information and individual-specific advertising, and the compliance burden on online platforms and app developers. Privacy advocates would likely support the parental consent, deletion, correction, and anti-targeted-advertising provisions, while industry stakeholders may object to the operational complexity of determining whether a user is a child or teen, the restrictions on data use and retention, and the enforcement exposure under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The bill attempts to address some concerns by excluding nonprofits in certain circumstances and by clarifying that it does not require age verification or affirmative age-gating.