Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, PRIVACY NEWS: Senate passes KOSA, COPPA 2.0 with overwhelming vote, (Jul 31, 2024)

By Lynn Stanton, TR Daily

President Biden issued a statement that he was eager to sign the bills if they pass the House.

The Senate passed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children’s and Teens Online Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) on a 91-3 vote on July 30, 2024. The two bills, which are aimed at protecting minors from a range of negative effects of online activity, especially from social media use, were combined as an amendment to the Eliminate Useless Reports Act (S 2073), which passed the Senate in December and the House, in an amended form, in May. The Senate used the bill as a vehicle to pass KOSA and COPPA 2.0.

Despite the overwhelming bipartisan approval in the Senate, House approval of the new version of S 2073 could be a challenge, given that the House versions of KOSA and COPPA 2.0 haven’t been able to make it out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The House Commerce Committee canceled a planned full committee markup of the bills last month, although media reports and remarks by House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone Jr. (D., N.J.) indicated the cancellation was due to Republican opposition to a different bill on the markup agenda, the America Privacy Rights Act (APRA) (HR 8818).

KOSA, which has been introduced by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) during the past two sessions would impose a “duty of care” on social media platforms and other applications or services that connect to the Internet and are used, or reasonably likely to be used, by a minor to act in the best interests of those users.

COPPA 2.0, which has been introduced by Sens. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) and Bill Cassidy (R., La.) during the past two sessions, would expand existing affirmative consent requirements for children 12 and under to minors aged 13 to 16, ban targeted ads to children and teens, require an online “Eraser Button” to enable users to delete personal information collected from a child or a teen, and establish a “Digital Marketing Bill of Rights for Minors” that limits the collection of personal information from teens. It would also revise the existing Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act’s (COPPA’s) “actual knowledge” standard to a “constructive knowledge” standard.

In addition, COPPA 2.0 would direct the Federal Trade Commission to study and report on the processes used by mobile and online applications to ensure that applications, services, and websites directed to children are in compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, as amended by COPPA 2.0, and the FTC’s COPPA rules. The FTC also would be required to report to Congress on its enforcement efforts under COPPA and make policy or legislative recommendations to strengthen online protections for children and teens.

If KOSA and COPPA 2.0 make it through the House, President Biden stands ready to sign it, according to a statement released by the White House.

“There is undeniable evidence that social media and other online platforms contribute to our youth mental health crisis. Today our children are subjected to a wild west online and our current laws and regulations are insufficient to prevent this. It is past time to act. While my Administration has taken important steps to address the harms of social media and online platforms, we need action by Congress to protect our kids online and hold Big Tech accountable for the national experiment they are running on our children for profit. This bill answers the call from the Unity Agenda of my first State of the Union Address, when I said it was time to strengthen privacy protections, ban targeted advertising to children, and demand tech companies stop collecting personal data on our children,” the president said.

“I encourage the House to send this bill to my desk for signature without delay,” he added.

Statements from senators echoed the president’s call for House action and included plans for further legislation.

In a floor statement after the vote to pass S 2073, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said that “the House should pass these bills as soon as they can.” He thanked the senators who worked on KOSA and COPPA 2.0 as well as “the parents who advocated so tirelessly for these bills. I’ve sat with them. I’ve heard the terrible stories: children, teenagers, perfectly normal, then some algorithm captures them online by accident, and they end up committing suicide shortly thereafter.

Senate Majority Whip and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) said, “Today’s overwhelming vote should send a message to Big Tech that its days of policing itself are over. As the Senate Judiciary Committee has shown throughout this Congress, social media and other tech platforms pose serious dangers to the physical and mental health of our kids and grandkids. But more importantly, the Committee and—now—the Senate have shown there is a bipartisan will to finally hold these companies accountable.”

Sen. Durbin added, “The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act will go a long way to making the internet safer for children. But it is only a first step. I will continue to push for votes on my STOP CSAM Act and any other measure that will give those harmed by Big Tech their day in court.”

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) said, “While our work to hold Big Tech accountable is far from over, I remain dedicated to fighting for common sense, bipartisan legislation like the Take It Down Act and Kids Off Social Media Act that I introduced earlier this year.”

Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.), ranking member of the communications, media, and broadband subcommittee, noted that S 2073 included his bipartisan Filter Bubble Transparency Act, aimed at making it easier for Internet platform users to understand the potential manipulation by algorithms that select and push content and at forcing platforms to provide an “algorithm-free” flow of content.

Sen. Thune said, “Consumers deserve more transparency when it comes to how social media and other internet platforms use algorithms to amplify or suppress content on their services. This bill helps consumers better understand how algorithms are used to select content in their ‘feed’ and gives users more control over what information they are digesting. I applaud the Senate’s strong bipartisan passage of my bill, and I hope the House of Representatives considers it in short order.”

Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.) said, “Today, the Senate took a giant, bipartisan step toward ensuring our children can harness the power and benefits of the internet in a safe and secure way, but efforts to hold social media companies accountable cannot end here. I hope the Senate will build on this bipartisan momentum by swiftly taking up and passing my bipartisan Platform Accountability and Transparency Act (PATA) so that researchers and the public have the data they need to understand the impact social media platforms have on our children and our society.”

Sen. Michael Bennet (D., Colo.) said, “This bill takes significant steps in safeguarding our children’s mental health and privacy, but we must do more to hold tech companies accountable for their platforms’ harmful effects. Congress must also pass the Digital Platform Commission Act to establish a commission to regulate social media platforms. Without a permanent regulatory body, misinformation, data harvesting, and business practices that harm American children will undoubtedly continue.”

News: Privacy FederalTradeCommissionNews