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ADA website compliance: a practical overview for US businesses and agencies

Updated October 12, 2026 · 4 min read

The ADA does not contain a technical website standard for private businesses, but US courts and the Department of Justice treat websites of businesses open to the public as covered by Title III, and WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 level AA is the yardstick used in practice. For state and local governments, Title II now has a formal rule: WCAG 2.1 AA by 26 April 2027 or 26 April 2028, depending on population size. Website lawsuits keep rising — e-commerce is the most targeted sector.

Title III: private businesses

Title III covers "places of public accommodation" — shops, restaurants, hotels, service providers. The DOJ's web guidance states that businesses open to the public must make their websites accessible, but there is no DOJ regulation with a specific technical standard for private websites. In settlements and court cases, WCAG 2.1 AA (and increasingly 2.2 AA) is the common reference.

What this means for a Shopify or WooCommerce store: there is no checklist that ends with an official stamp. What you can do is find and fix barriers, keep doing so, and document that work.

Title II: state and local government

The DOJ's 2024 rule requires state and local government websites and apps to meet WCAG 2.1 AA. An interim final rule of 20 April 2026 moved the dates:

Entity Date
Population of 50,000 or more 26 April 2027
Population under 50,000, special districts 26 April 2028

Agencies and contractors that build sites for public bodies should plan their testing now.

Section 508

Federal agencies follow Section 508, which references WCAG 2.0 AA. Vendors selling to federal agencies are often asked for an Accessibility Conformance Report based on the VPAT template (current edition 2.5Rev).

Lawsuits: the 2025 numbers

  • Federal court (Title III website cases): 2,452 in 2024 and 3,117 in 2025, an increase of about 27%. New York, Florida and Illinois lead. (Seyfarth Shaw)
  • Federal and state courts combined: more than 5,000 digital accessibility lawsuits in 2025, about 70% against e-commerce sites. (UsableNet)
  • Sites with overlays: roughly 85 to 132 lawsuits per month were filed against sites that used an accessibility widget. (UsableNet)

Most cases start with a demand letter and end in a settlement that includes a remediation plan.

Overlays and the FTC

In April 2025 the Federal Trade Commission finalised an order against accessiBe: $1 million and a ban on claiming that its automated product can make websites conform to WCAG without evidence. Be careful with any tool — including ours — that promises legal protection. See why overlays are not a solution.

What we offer US businesses and agencies

  • Automated WCAG 2.1/2.2 AA monitoring. Weekly scans with axe-core, findings mapped to WCAG 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2 and to Section 508.
  • Finds a subset of issues. It is an automated check, not a full audit, and not legal advice.
  • Evidence of ongoing good-faith remediation: dated reports and trends that show what was found and what was fixed over time.
  • White-label reports for agencies, in plain English for the client. See monitoring for agencies.

We do not claim that any site meets the ADA, and we do not promise protection from legal claims. Nobody can honestly promise that.

Practical steps

  1. Scan your key templates: home, collection, product, cart, checkout, account. Start with a free check.
  2. Fix the high-impact issues first: unlabelled checkout fields, buttons without names, low contrast, keyboard traps. See the 10 most common e-commerce errors.
  3. Test manually with a keyboard and a screen reader, or hire an expert for a full audit.
  4. Monitor after every theme or app change.
  5. Publish an accessibility page with a contact for feedback.
  6. Talk to a lawyer if you receive a demand letter.

Also selling to the EU? The European Accessibility Act has its own rules: read the EAA guide. Our WCAG 2.2 checklist works for both markets.

FAQ

Is there an official ADA standard for business websites? No DOJ regulation for Title III; WCAG 2.1/2.2 AA is the practical reference.

When do Title II rules apply? 26 April 2027 for entities serving 50,000+ people, 26 April 2028 for smaller ones.

How many lawsuits in 2025? 3,117 federal Title III website cases (Seyfarth); 5,000+ including state courts (UsableNet).

Does an overlay prevent lawsuits? No — overlay users were still sued at roughly 85–132 cases per month.

Does an automated scan make a site meet the ADA? No. It finds a subset of issues and supports ongoing remediation.

Sources

  • ADA.gov, Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA: https://www.ada.gov/resources/web-guidance/
  • Federal Register, extension of Title II compliance dates (20 April 2026): https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/04/20/2026-07663/extension-of-compliance-dates-for-nondiscrimination-on-the-basis-of-disability-accessibility-of-web
  • Federal Trade Commission, accessiBe order: https://www.ftc.gov/node/88115
  • Section508.gov, ICT Refresh fact sheet: https://assets.section508.gov/assets/files/2017_508-Refresh-Fact-sheet-updated.pdf
  • Lawsuit numbers: Seyfarth Shaw (federal Title III, 2025) and UsableNet 2025 year-end report (federal and state).

This page is general information, not legal advice.