Rhode Island Children's Privacy Laws (2026)

Rhode Island Data Transparency and Privacy Protection Act (RIDTPPA): minors' provisions · H7787 / S2500 (2024)

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

Ages: Known children under 13 (per COPPA); no separate teen 13-17 protections

Requires: A controller must obtain consent before processing the personal data of a consumer it knows to be a 'known child' (under 13), and process such data in accordance with COPPA; a controller that complies with COPPA's verifiable-parental-consent requirements is deemed compliant. Sensitive data of a known child may not be processed without consent. Unlike most newer state laws, the RIDTPPA imposes no heightened opt-in duties for teens 13-17 for targeted advertising, sale, or profiling beyond the general consumer opt-out rights.

Entry last reviewed 2026-07-18

Artificial Intelligence Companion Models act (S 2195 Sub A / H 7350 Sub A) · S 2195 Substitute A as amended (Public Laws 2026 ch. 376; identical House companion H 7350 Sub A is ch. 375); R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 6-63

Enacted, not yet effective: Signed into law; its effective date is still in the future. · AI companion · enacted 2026-06-22 (the Public Laws chapter header records enactment; Rhode Island's records do not distinguish a governor's signature from passage without one, so no signed date is asserted); effective 2027-01-01 · binds operators

Ages: All users, age neutral: the enacted text contains no minor-specific provision

Requires: Operators of AI companion models must give every user a clear and conspicuous notification, verbal or written, that they are not communicating with a human, at the start of any companion interaction and at least every three hours while it continues, and must maintain a protocol for responding to user expressions of suicidal ideation or self-harm. Enforced by the Attorney General only, with civil penalties up to $15,000 per day directed to suicide prevention programs. Worth knowing before relying on secondary summaries: the bill's own Legislative Council explanation was never updated after the substitute and still describes a 16-point 'unable to feel human emotion' notice and a private right of action, both of which were stripped before enactment; commercial trackers propagate that stale text. The enacted chapter contains neither, and no age line of any kind.

Litigation: None. Not challenged; no AI companion-chatbot law in any state has been sued over.

Entry last reviewed 2026-07-24