The biggest digital accessibility compliance deadline in U.S. history arrives on April 24, 2026. The DOJ's final rule under ADA Title II requires all state and local government entities serving populations of 50,000 or more to make their web content, mobile apps, PDFs, videos, and social media conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
Smaller entities -- those serving under 50,000 -- get an extra year, with their deadline set for April 26, 2027.
Who is in scope
Every public university, city, county, transit authority, school district, and state agency that serves 50,000+ people. The rule covers:
- Websites and web applications
- Mobile apps
- PDFs and downloadable documents
- Videos and multimedia (captions and audio descriptions required)
- Social media content
- Online forms and portals
What WCAG 2.1 AA requires
WCAG 2.1 Level AA includes 50 success criteria across four principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. The additions over WCAG 2.0 focus on mobile accessibility, cognitive disabilities, and low-vision users -- including requirements for reflow, text spacing, and touch target sizing.
What happens after April 24
Plaintiff attorneys will have clear legal grounds to file suit on April 25, 2026, the day after the deadline passes. Given that ADA digital accessibility lawsuits surged 37% in 2025, organizations that miss this deadline should expect enforcement activity, not just risk it.
The DOJ has also signaled it may pursue enforcement actions directly, not just wait for private litigation.
What to do now
If your organization has not started a compliance audit, the window is extremely narrow but not closed. Priority actions:
- Run an automated scan of your primary web properties to identify the most common WCAG 2.1 AA failures
- Audit your PDF library -- documents are often the largest source of non-compliant content
- Check video content for captions and audio descriptions
- Review online forms for proper labeling, error handling, and keyboard navigation
- Document your remediation plan -- demonstrating active effort matters in enforcement contexts
The April 24 deadline is not the end of the compliance process. Accessibility is ongoing. But it is the date after which non-compliance becomes a clear legal liability.