New Jersey teen accounts would default to higher privacy

New Jersey lawmakers are trying to make the internet less intrusive for teenagers. The Kids Code Act, also called the New Jersey Age-Appropriate Design Code, would require certain online services to build stronger privacy protections for minors they know are using the platform.

At the center of the proposal is a simple rule: if a user is a child or teenager, the service would have to start with the most private settings, rather than the most open ones. That means less visibility to other adults, tighter controls on direct messages, and fewer ways for a minor’s location or activity to be shared by default.

The settings that would shift

The bill would also turn off search engine indexing for those accounts, hide interaction counts by default and restrict the use of dark patterns, the interface tricks that can push people toward choices they did not really want to make. For families, that could mean fewer public signals attached to a young person’s account and fewer built-in prompts to keep sharing.

The measure is written against a broader anxiety about life online: that the design of apps and social platforms can amplify exposure, compulsive use and data collection before a child understands what is being given away. Its findings point to rising adolescent distress and heavy internet use as part of the case for a stricter baseline.