California's new law aimed at improving online privacy and safety for children has the industry on edge and critics warning of disruptions to the internet — but advocates say most users won't see big changes, Axios’ Margaret Harding McGill reports.

Why it matters: The California law mirrors a U.K. standard that prompted some changes by Big Tech companies but did not drastically alter the online landscape.

Driving the news: The bipartisan California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday, requires online platforms to consider the best interest of users under 18 when designing their services.

• Sites that are likely to be accessed by children and teens will be prohibited from using their personal information, collecting location data or profiling them by default.
• Websites and apps must estimate the age range of their user population to determine whether they are likely to be accessed by teens and kids, and implement measures to protect those users.

What's happening: The age estimation requirement has sparked an outcry that the law will alter how users navigate the web by forcing them to prove their age before accessing a site.

• This could mean websites or apps will require users to upload government IDs or require facial scans to prove ages, Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and a critic of the measure, told Axios.
• He called the law a "neutron bomb" for the internet and said it will lead to more invasive practices under the guise of protecting children.

Yes, but: Instagram, YouTube, Meta and TikTok made changes to their services to make teenage users' experiences more private and safer ahead of the U.K.'s Age Appropriate Design Code taking effect last year.

• Instagram in August announced it would put all new users under 16 into its most restrictive content setting and prompt existing users in that age group to apply that setting, which aims to limit access to sensitive content.

A Meta spokesperson called the California law an "important development," noting the company still has concerns about some of the provisions and said it supports "clear industry standards."

Tech industry association TechNet opposes the measure, in part because lawmakers did not agree to lower the age threshold to 16 and younger, Dylan Hoffman, TechNet executive director for California and the Southwest, told Axios.

• He predicted companies will vary in how they implement the age estimation requirement.
• "Maybe the worst case scenario is requiring additional personal information in order to verify you are as old as you say you are," Hoffman said. "But I think also just as concerning is what type of barriers it's putting in place to the openness of the internet, not just for kids but adults, too. "

The other side: Supporters say the age estimation requirement doesn't mean users will have to share their ages, and that sites that are already collecting data likely know the age of their users.

• "If your website is safe for everyone, you don't have to age estimate," Nichole Rocha, head of U.S. affairs for 5Rights Foundation, a supporter of the legislation, told Axios.
• "But if there are data processing practices that could result in harm to kids, you would be expected to do an impact assessment and figure out how you can mitigate the risk to users."

What they're saying: Both Fight for the Future, a digital rights advocacy group, and NetChoice, a tech association, argue that the law is unconstitutional because it infringes on the editorial rights of websites and apps.

The California measure takes effect in 2024, and gives companies 90 days to "cure" their sites of violations before incurring any fines.

The Biden administration will start accepting applications today from state governments for slivers of a new $1 billion cybersecurity grant program, Axios' Sam Sabin reports.

The big picture: The four-year grant program aims to provide state and local governments with both starter funds and the momentum to craft ongoing cybersecurity strategies. It was created in last fall's $1.2 trillion infrastructure package.

• For the first year, only $185 million of the $1 billion pool will be available, with applications due on Nov. 15.

Details: The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will run the program and plan to allot funding by the end of the year, a senior Department of Homeland Security official told reporters before today’s announcement.

Between the lines: State and local governments often lack the financial resources to properly secure public goods like water infrastructure and schools as lawmakers have prioritized spending on other issues.

• One estimate suggests only 35% of states have a line item for cybersecurity in their budgets.
• The program requires governments to match between 10% and 40% of the awards over the course of the four-year grant program. The idea is to get state and local governments in the habit of funding cybersecurity after the grant runs out.

What they're saying: "It was never designed to be 100% of every project in America, it was designed to be a kick-start," Mitch Landrieu, the White House infrastructure coordinator, said.

What's next: CISA and FEMA will accept applications for another round of funding dedicated to tribal governments later in the fall.

Adobe's $20 billion purchase of Figma, a collaborative tool for building software interfaces, is facing blowback from the online design community, Axios' Scott Rosenberg reports.

What's happening: Designers embraced the service when it launched in 2015 and made it wildly popular. Now, some fear that Figma's absorption into the much larger Adobe — which dominates the market for creative design tools — means the app could lose its zing.

Between the lines: Adobe's venerable products, like Photoshop and Creative Cloud, are big and relatively costly. Adobe XD, which competed directly with Figma, struggled against its nimbler rival.

Flashback: Last year, Figma CEO Dylan Field tweeted, in response to a prediction that Figma would someday best Adobe, "Our goal is to be Figma not Adobe."

• "We want to retain our identity, our community, our brand, our platform," Field told Protocol after the deal became public.

Figma fans will be watching Adobe closely to see how that plays out.

What they're saying: “We believe that the combination of Adobe and Figma is going to be one of these unique combinations that completely ushers in a new era of collaborative creativity," Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen told CNBC.

In the first in a new series of weekly video updates from the Login team, I took a look at the key new features of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro — including two that Apple hopes you will never need to use.

• Watch the video

Trading places

• Pinterest named former PayPal lawyer Wanji Walcott as its new chief legal officer.
• The Senate confirmed Nathanial Fick as the country's first cyber ambassador.

ICYMI

• Facebook parent Meta is significantly scaling back its New Product Experimentation group to focus solely on short-form video apps. (Platformer)
• Ubisoft game designers have expressed a mix of despair and defiant hope when talking about their company’s attempts to reform. (Axios)

I'm not recommending doing this, but apparently this letter with a map where the address should have been was nonetheless delivered to the right house in Iceland.