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State Children's Privacy Law Tracker / Arkansas

Arkansas Children's Privacy Laws (2026)

4 laws & bills tracked · overall: In force · current as of July 18, 2026

Arkansas has 4 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 Arkansas in the tracker map.

Social Media Safety Act (SB 396 / Act 689 of 2023)

Enacted, enjoined: Passed, but a court has currently blocked enforcement. · Social media · effective 2023-09-01 · binds operators, platforms

Ages: under 18

Requires: Social media platforms must verify the age of account holders via a third-party vendor and obtain parental consent before a minor (under 18) may create an account.

Litigation: NetChoice, LLC v. Griffin, No. 5:23-cv-05105 (W.D. Ark.). PI 2023-08-31; permanent injunction 2025-03-31. Appeal (8th Cir. No. 25-1889) was CONSOLIDATED with Nos. 26-1096 and 26-1962 by court order dated 2026-05-27, which removed the case from the June 2026 oral-argument calendar; argument will be reset once consolidated briefing is complete. Appellants filed a motion on 2026-06-29 to extend the consolidated brief deadline to 2026-08-06 (ruling not yet reflected on the docket). The permanent injunction remains in effect throughout.

Primary source

Entry last reviewed

Social Media Safety Act amendment (SB 611 / Act 900 of 2025)

Enacted, enjoined: Passed, but a court has currently blocked enforcement. · Social media · effective 2026-04-21 · binds operators, platforms

Ages: under 16 (some provisions under 18)

Requires: Strengthens age-verification; narrows applicability to users under 16; requires parental consent for minors' accounts; nighttime notification curfew (cease notifications 10pm-6am CST unless modified by a parent); protective default privacy settings; adds a parental private right of action and raises penalties to $10,000 per violation.

Litigation: NetChoice, LLC v. Griffin, No. 5:25-cv-05140 (W.D. Ark.). Preliminary injunction granted 2026-04-20. Appeal (8th Cir. No. 26-1962, and related No. 26-1096) is CONSOLIDATED with No. 25-1889 by court order 2026-05-27; case pulled from the June 2026 argument calendar. Appellants moved on 2026-06-29 to extend the consolidated opening brief deadline to 2026-08-06. Preliminary injunction remains in effect.

Primary source

Entry last reviewed

Regulation of Social Media Platform Design (SB 612 / Act 901 of 2025)

Enacted, enjoined: Passed, but a court has currently blocked enforcement. · Social media · effective 2025-08-03 · binds operators, platforms

Ages: under 16

Requires: Creates a private right of action and civil penalties for social media platforms that use a design, algorithm, or feature they knew or should have known causes a minor user to purchase a controlled substance, develop an eating disorder, commit/attempt suicide, or develop/sustain an addiction to the platform.

Litigation: NetChoice, LLC v. Griffin, No. 5:25-cv-05140 (W.D. Ark.). Preliminary injunction granted 2025-12-15. Appeal (8th Cir. No. 26-1096, and related No. 26-1962) is CONSOLIDATED with No. 25-1889 by court order 2026-05-27; case pulled from the June 2026 argument calendar. Appellants moved on 2026-06-29 to extend the consolidated opening brief deadline to 2026-08-06. Preliminary injunction remains in effect.

Primary source

Entry last reviewed

Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act (HB 1717 / Act 952 of 2025) · HB 1717 / Act 952

In force: Effective and enforceable today. · Privacy law (minors) · effective 2026-07-01 · binds operators

Ages: under 13 (children); 13-16 (teens)

Requires: Extends COPPA-style protections to teens ages 13 to 16, not just children under 13. Operators of online services directed at children or teens, or with actual knowledge they are collecting a minor's data, must get parental consent for children and either parental or the teen's own consent for 13-to-16-year-olds before collecting personal information. It bans targeted advertising to minors, requires clear notice of data practices, and gives minors rights to access, correct, and delete their data. The Arkansas Attorney General has exclusive enforcement authority; there is no private right of action.

Litigation: No lawsuit identified. NetChoice's ongoing Griffin litigation targets Arkansas's age-verification and platform-design social media laws (Acts 689, 900, 901), not this data-privacy act.

Primary source

Entry last reviewed

Also on the books (out of scope): Protection of Minors from Distribution of Harmful Material Act (SB 66 / Act 612 of 2023): adult-content age-verification law; in force since 2023-07-31, unchallenged (unlike Act 689). Out-of-scope mandates (like adult-content age-gates) are tracked separately and don't set this state's status.

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 Arkansas 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. "Arkansas: Children's Privacy Laws." isaaccalvo.com/child-privacy-laws/arkansas (data as of 2026-07-18).