Connecticut Attorney General William Tong sent a letter to Sephora regarding the marketing of anti-aging skincare products with harmful ingredients like retinol and acids to children and teens on social media. The AG seeks information on product placements in searches for kids and warning practices, cautioning parents about potential skin harm from these products.
In-house legal teams should review all agreements governing marketing, sales, and platform operations, including influencer marketing agreements, website terms of use, vendor agreements with brands (e.g., Drunk Elephant, Glow Recipe), and any data processing agreements if customer data is involved. Specific clauses to scrutinize are those related to marketing compliance, target audience restrictions, age-gating mechanisms, product warning and disclaimer obligations, and control over search result algorithms and product placements. Given the AG's concern over products appearing in searches for 'kids' and 'gifts for children,' contracts may need amendments to mandate stricter age verification, require prominent warnings about ingredients like retinol and acids for young users, restrict product categorization and search indexing for minor audiences, and impose obligations on influencers to include safety disclaimers when promoting such products to younger demographics.
Entity
Sephora
Industry
RetailOfficial Press Release
https://portal.ct.gov/ag/press-releases/2024-press-releases/attorney-general-tong-cautions-parents-regarding-anti-aging-skincare
sephora usa inc inquiry letter112524.pdf?rev=00d5d4e2d528481
https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/ag/press_releases/2024/sephora-usa-inc-inquiry-letter112524.pdf?rev=00d5d4e2d5284811b6cb15fb6f77f3bb&hash=588DD9C5BED120D3E887339C75E9F0C2
Connecticut Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://portal.ct.gov/AG/Privacy/Privacy-Resources
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced a settlement with beauty retailer Sephora resolving an investigation into the company’s marketing of anti-aging skincare products containing active ingredients like retinol to children under 13. Sephora agreed to adopt enforceable safeguards including requiring suppliers to provide age suitability warnings, disclosing those warnings on product pages, training employees to advise young customers, and maintaining a public resource on age-appropriate products. No monetary penalty was imposed.
On May 11, 2026, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong led a bipartisan coalition of 21 attorneys general in submitting a comment letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging the agency to abandon draft guidance that would ease approvals for flavored e-cigarette products. The coalition argues the guidance ignores evidence that flavored e-cigarettes disproportionately drive youth addiction and that FDA has failed to enforce existing authorization requirements for e-cigarette products. The letter references past tobacco and e-cigarette enforcement actions, including the 1998 tobacco master settlement agreement and the 2022 $438.5 million settlement with JUUL Labs.
Connecticut’s legislature passed House Bill 5312, creating new civil enforcement mechanisms for deepfake digital sexual assault, including unauthorized dissemination of synthetically created intimate images and AI-generated child pornography. The bill establishes a private right of action for victims and empowers the Connecticut Attorney General to pursue civil injunctions and penalties against abusers and platforms hosting illegal content. This builds on prior Connecticut laws criminalizing unauthorized intimate image dissemination.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong praised final passage of House Bill 5312, which creates new civil enforcement mechanisms for deepfake digital sexual assault. The legislation allows the AG to pursue civil injunctions and penalties against platforms that disseminate illegal synthetic intimate images, including AI-generated child pornography, and establishes a private right of action for victims. The bill builds on prior Connecticut laws criminalizing unauthorized dissemination of intimate images.
$300K
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced a settlement with international trade platform Made-in-China to cease all U.S. sales of unlawful 'research grade' GLP-1 weight loss drugs following an investigation into direct sales to consumers without prescriptions or medical oversight. The settlement prohibits the platform from hosting GLP-1 sales to U.S. customers, requires a monitoring system to remove non-compliant listings, and imposes a $300,000 penalty suspended after an initial $30,000 payment. Additional settlements were announced with Radiance Medspa and Advanced Medical Weight Loss over compounded non-FDA approved GLP-1 drugs.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong issued a statement on May 1, 2026, announcing the final passage of bipartisan legislation targeting youth social media addiction and artificial intelligence harms. The legislation imposes new obligations on social media companies regarding minor account settings, parental consent, and reporting, as well as requirements for AI chatbot operators and employers using automated decision tools. The statement also references ongoing enforcement actions against Meta and TikTok for allegedly designing addictive platform features for youth.