The legal landscape governing children’s and teens’ digital privacy is changing rapidly. Federal regulators are refining their approach to existing protections, states are adopting new privacy and online-safety requirements, and businesses face an increasingly complex patchwork of laws governing how young people’s data may be collected, used, shared, and protected. This panel will examine what the law requires today and where regulators and lawmakers are headed next.

Bringing together the perspectives of an elected state legislator, a state regulator responsible for implementing privacy requirements, and a former federal regulator now in private practice, the panel will provide practical insights into federal enforcement, state policymaking, regulatory implementation, and private-sector counseling. Attendees will gain an understanding of what to expect over the next 12 to 24 months, which practices involving youth are most likely to attract regulatory scrutiny, and how federal and state approaches may converge or conflict. The discussion will help organizations anticipate emerging risks, evaluate their compliance priorities, and prepare for new legislation and evolving enforcement expectations.

A breakout session following the panel will allow attendees to step into the role of a state regulator and evaluate whether to investigate a hypothetical social entertainment app used heavily by minors. Participants will gain practical experience identifying enforcement theories, prioritizing investigative steps, developing meaningful remedies, and assessing gaps in existing law.

Brands now reach children and teens through synthetic influencers and AI-enabled brand characters that talk back. But a persona that responds to a child can imply experiences it never had, make claims no one reviewed, exert influence no script anticipated, and produce content inconsistent with brand standards — all outside the approval chain that governs conventional advertising.

This panel will identify the legal and brand safety challenges companies face when an AI persona speaks for the brand. Panelists will include a former regulator now in private practice, an expert in AI guardrails, and a brand representative. They will address emerging disclosure laws, the strain these technologies place on traditional advertising principles, the practices most likely to attract regulatory scrutiny, and practical safeguards like design limits, testing, vendor oversight, monitoring, and incident response. Attention will be given to how children and teens understand and respond to AI personas—and when disclosure alone may not adequately address the risk. Attendees will leave with insights into the issues to be considered around deployment and what safeguards may look like when disclosure is not enough.

An interactive breakout session following the panel will give attendees the opportunity to apply these considerations to a hypothetical AI-generated brand character that interacts with children and teens. Participants will gain practical experience identifying and prioritizing legal and brand-safety risks, selecting appropriate safeguards, and determining whether—and under what conditions—the experience should launch.