ADA Title II Goes Digital: What Public Entities Need to Know
When the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) finalized its ADA Title II web accessibility rule in April 2024, it marked one of the most significant updates to accessibility law in decades. For the first time, state and local governments have clear, enforceable standards for their digital services.
The rule ties compliance directly to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA, setting deadlines in April 2026 and April 2027. For public entities, this means that websites, mobile apps, live streams, and digital archives must soon meet accessibility requirements not just in spirit, but in measurable, testable ways.
This article breaks down what’s changed, who’s covered, what WCAG 2.1 AA means in practice, and how you can begin preparing today.
What Changed Under ADA Title II?
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title II has always prohibited discrimination by state and local governments. But until recently, digital accessibility obligations were less defined, leaving agencies with uncertainty about what exactly they needed to provide.
The new DOJ regulation removes that ambiguity by:
- Requiring compliance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA for all public-facing web content and mobile apps.
- Establishing firm deadlines based on population size:
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- April 24, 2026 → Public entities serving 50,000+ people.
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- April 26, 2027 → Public entities serving fewer than 50,000 citizens, plus special district governments.
- Clarifying scope: the rules apply to digital content “provided or made available” by the entity – even if a contractor or vendor is responsible for delivery.
- Allowing only limited exceptions (archived content, third-party posts, individualized documents).
In short: if you are a state or local government entity in the U.S., you will soon be expected to demonstrate WCAG 2.1 AA compliance across your digital ecosystem.
Who Must Comply?
The rule applies broadly to:
- State governments
- Local governments (counties, cities, towns)
- Special district governments (school districts, transit authorities, utilities, etc.)
This includes public-facing websites, mobile apps, online forms, livestreams of council meetings, education portals, and other digital tools that deliver programs and services.
If your entity provides information digitally – whether directly or through contractors – you are covered.
What Does WCAG 2.1 AA Actually Require?
WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is a global technical standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The DOJ has now anchored ADA Title II obligations to this framework.
Level AA builds on Level A, meaning compliance requires both sets of criteria. Here’s what matters most for multimedia:
Captions
- Prerecorded video must have accurate, synchronized captions (Level A).
- Live video (e.g. council meetings, public hearings, livestreams) must include real-time captions (Level AA).
Transcripts
- Audio-only content (e.g. podcasts, recorded speeches, announcements) must have text transcripts (Level A).
Audio Description
- Prerecorded video must now include audio description when visual content conveys meaning not already spoken in the main track. For many public entities, this is new territory – audio description hasn’t traditionally been required at scale. The good news: automated solutions (such as AI-Media’s LEXI AD) make compliance achievable, affordable, and scalable.
- Example: a training video showing steps on screen without verbal explanation must add audio description.
Together, these requirements ensure that people who are Deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or have low vision can access digital content equivalently.
Why This Matters for Public Entities
Accessibility isn’t just about checking boxes. It directly impacts your community’s ability to participate fully in civic life.
- Equity & inclusion: Residents rely on captions and descriptions for equal access to government services.
- Legal risk: Once deadlines arrive, non-compliance could expose agencies to lawsuits or DOJ enforcement actions.
- Public trust: Providing accessible digital services signals commitment to all citizens, not just the majority.
- Efficiency: Accessible content benefits everyone – captions help in noisy environments, transcripts support searchability, and audio descriptions improve clarity.
The Compliance Challenge
While the rule is clear, implementation can be daunting. Many governments face:
- High costs of human captioners and describers for every meeting or recording.
- Complex logistics of coordinating accessibility across multiple departments, vendors, and platforms.
- Large archives of existing content requiring retroactive captioning and description.
- Limited expertise on staff to manage technical accessibility workflows.
Traditional approaches, such as staffing human captioners or outsourcing every audio description, can quickly become financially unsustainable. Government budgets demand predictable, scalable solutions that can handle both live meetings and large video archives without overwhelming costs.
Getting Started: A Practical Checklist
Here are five steps you can take now (for the full 10-point version, download the checklist below):
- Confirm your deadline → April 2026 (≥50k) or April 2027 (<50k/special district).
- Inventory your digital content → List live streams, recorded videos, podcasts, and apps.
- Audit current accessibility → Do your videos have captions? Are transcripts available? Is any AD in place?
- Prioritize high-impact content → Focus first on meetings, emergency updates, and widely accessed information.
- Explore scalable solutions → AI-driven tools now make captions and AD affordable and practical at scale.
How AI-Media Can Help
At AI-Media, we specialize in AI-powered accessibility solutions designed to make compliance simple:
- LEXI Text → Automated captions for live and prerecorded content. Delivers low latency, high accuracy, speaker identification, and non-speech cues. [Link to product page]
- LEXI AD → Breakthrough automated audio description. Produces natural-sounding narration at scale – the only cost-effective way to meet new AD requirements across large video libraries. [Link to product page]
- End-to-end infrastructure → Our Alta encoders and iCap Network deliver captions and AD seamlessly across platforms.
With AI-Media, compliance doesn’t have to mean complexity.
Looking Ahead: The Countdown to 2026
The countdown has begun to the first ADA Title II deadline – but you don’t have to tackle compliance alone. AI-Media is here to help public entities prepare with practical, cost-effective solutions.
The countdown has begun. Will your agency be ready?
Next Step: Download the ADA Compliance Checklist
We’ve created a free 10-point ADA Title II Compliance Checklist to help you get started. It outlines exactly what you need to do to prepare for April 2026 and April 2027 deadlines, with practical steps for captions, transcripts, and audio description.
👉 Download the ADA Compliance Checklist → Get our free 10-point guide to ADA Title II readiness.
[ Download the Checklist ]
👉 Book a Consultation → Talk with an AI-Media expert about how your agency can prepare with captions and audio description at scale.
[ Book a Consultation ]
👉 Visit the ADA Title II Hub → Explore deadlines, FAQs, and practical solutions all in one place.
[ Explore the Hub ]
Please note that this article represents our interpretation of the legislation, and we strongly advise reaching out to your legal experts for clarification and confirmation of requirements.
📚 Further Reading & Official Resources
- DOJ Final Rule in the Federal Register (April 24, 2024) – full regulatory text
- ADA.gov Fact Sheet: Web & Mobile Accessibility Under Title II – plain-language summary from DOJ
- DOJ Announcement: Final Rule to Strengthen Web & Mobile App Access – Department of Justice press release
Please note that the content on this page (and all linked and related content) represents our interpretation of the DOJ Ruling only. We strongly advise you reach out to your legal experts for clarification and confirmation of requirements