Vermont and Nebraska: Diverging Experiments in State Age-Appropriate Design Codes

In May 2025, Nebraska and Vermont passed Age-Appropriate Design Code Acts (AADCs), continuing the bipartisan trend of states advancing protections for youth online. While these new bills arrived within the same week and share both a common name and general purpose, their scope, applicability, and substance take two very different approaches to a common goal: crafting a design code that can withstand First Amendment scrutiny. 

Much like the divergence in “The Road Not Taken,” each state has taken its version of the path less traveled in crafting an AADC, informed by different assumptions about risks to minors online, risks of constitutional challenges, and enforcement priorities. As states grapple with legal challenges to earlier AADCs (California’s law remains blocked and a lawsuit was filed against Maryland’s law earlier this year) Nebraska and Vermont demonstrate how policymakers are experimenting with divergent frameworks in hopes of creating constitutionally sound models for youth online privacy and safety.

See our comparison chart for a full side-by-side comparison between the Nebraska Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (LB 504) and Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (S.69).