July 30, 2024
Imagine this – the year is 1998 – we had no iPhone, no Facebook, mp3 players and Google were just invented and just four years earlier people were still trying to figure out the internet.
Some of you remember those days – lots of you have no clue what those days were like – but regardless – 1998 was the last time Congress passed any law to protect kids online – until today. The Senate just overwhelmingly passed a pair of bills they have literally been working on for years called the Kids Online Safety Act also known as “KOSA” and an updated version of that 1998 law called the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act 2.0 or “COPPA 2.0”. The bills passed with a vote of 91 to three.
Ok – let’s first talk about the Kids Online Safety Act. This is a bipartisan bill that would require social media platforms, gaming sites and other online platforms to provide minors with options to protect their information, disable addictive product features, and opt out of personalized algorithmic recommendations. That would require social platforms to enable the strongest privacy settings for kids by default. The bill gives parents new controls to help protect their children and spot harmful behaviors, providing parents and educators with a dedicated channel to report harmful behavior. It creates a “duty of care” making online platforms responsible to prevent and mitigate specific dangers to minors that promote content that discusses harmful behaviors, bullying, violence and pushes ads for tobacco and alcohol. Lastly it requires annual independent audits and research into how these platforms impact the well-being of kids and teens. Those who support the bill say this bill does not give the government or states attorneys general the power to dictate what kind of content young users see and they cannot enforce the “duty of care” provision. It does not censor, block or remove content from the internet. This bill also does *not amend, change or eliminate Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which provides immunity to online platforms for the third-party content it hosts on its websites. Those who oppose it say this law will stifle the first amendment.
The other piece of legislation is an update to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act they’re calling COPPA 2.0…the original COPPA was passed in 1998 and took effect in the year 2000. This 2.0 version would ban online companies from collecting personal information from users between the ages of 13 and 16 without their consent and bans targeted advertising to children and teens. And it creates what they’re calling an eraser button for parents and kids to eliminate their personal information online. Lastly the bill establishes the youth marketing and privacy division of the federal trade commission.
Now that these bills have passed the Senate — the question is – will they pass the House too? It’s definitely possible that this overwhelming bipartisan support from the Senate will force Speaker Johnson to at least take the bill up in the House. But of course – the House could always change a few things.
