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State Children's Privacy Law Tracker / Alabama

Alabama Children's Privacy Laws (2026)

2 laws & bills tracked · overall: Enacted, not yet effective · current as of July 18, 2026

Alabama has 2 tracked children's privacy laws and bills, each listed below with its status, the ages it covers, litigation posture, and a link to the official primary source. For the interactive view, open Alabama in the tracker map.

App Store Accountability Act · HB161 (Act 2026-59)

Enacted, not yet effective: Signed into law; its effective date is still in the future. · App store · effective 2027-01-01 · binds app stores, developers

Ages: Minors under 18; age categories: under 13, 13-15, 16-17, 18+

Requires: App store providers must request and verify each account holder's age category (under 13; 13-15; 16-17; 18+) using commercially reasonable methods or an AG-approved system. For minors (under 18), the store must affiliate the account with a verified parent account and obtain verifiable parental consent before the minor may download an app, purchase an app, or make in-app purchases. App developers receive age-category/consent signals and must re-request consent on significant changes. Existing accounts must be categorized/verified by Oct 1, 2027.

Litigation: Still no suit filed against Alabama's law. Context: on 2026-07-06 the U.S. Supreme Court denied applications to vacate the Fifth Circuit's stay in the Texas App Store Accountability Act litigation (25A1389, Students Engaged in Advancing Texas v. Paxton; 25A1390, CCIA v. Paxton), an emergency-docket order that lets Texas enforce its similar law while the Fifth Circuit appeal proceeds. Alabama was one of 27 states on the Florida-led amicus brief supporting Texas, and the Alabama AG's office says it is watching the Texas case for implications for Alabama's Act.

Primary source

Entry last reviewed

Alabama Personal Data Protection Act (APDPA) · HB351 (Act 2026-552)

Enacted, not yet effective: Signed into law; its effective date is still in the future. · Privacy law (minors) · effective 2027-05-01 · binds operators

Ages: Known child under 13 (COPPA-aligned sensitive-data treatment); consumers ages 13-15 require opt-in consent for targeted advertising or sale of data

Requires: Alabama's new comprehensive consumer privacy law makes Alabama the 21st state with such a statute. It treats personal data of a known child under 13 as sensitive data that must be processed consistent with COPPA, and controllers that comply with COPPA's verifiable-parental-consent requirements are deemed compliant with the Act's parental consent obligation. For consumers ages 13-15 whose age a controller actually knows, the controller must get affirmative opt-in consent before processing their data for targeted advertising or sale. Unlike Colorado, Connecticut, or Virginia, it does not add protections for minors beyond the COPPA baseline. Enforcement is by the Alabama AG only; there is no private right of action.

Litigation: None found. Newly enacted comprehensive privacy statute; no legal challenges reported.

Primary source

Entry last reviewed

Federal · COPPAapplies here too

Regardless of state law, COPPA governs personal information collected from children under 13: notice, verifiable parental consent, data minimization, and (under the 2025 amended Rule) limits on retention and third-party sharing.

Source

How Alabama compares

Not legal advice. I build products for a living; I'm not a lawyer. Compiled from primary sources and reviewed monthly as part of the State Children's Privacy Law Tracker; AI-assisted research, verified against each law's official source, but laws and injunctions change fast, so confirm the latest before relying on it. Related: COPPA's Gray Areas.

Cite this page: Calvo, Isaac A. "Alabama: Children's Privacy Laws." isaaccalvo.com/child-privacy-laws/alabama (data as of 2026-07-18).