Senate Expects to Pass Kids’ Bills Next Week; House E&C Preps Markup

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said he will oppose final passage of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) (S-1409), but supports the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) (S-1418). House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., told us her committee plans marking up the bills after Congress returns from August recess.

The bills are on a “glide path to final passage early next week,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the floor Thursday before the first procedural vote. They are the “most important update” to federal law protecting children online in “decades,” he said.

KOSA would impose a duty of care on social media platforms and establish liability when they fail to mitigate harms related to anxiety, depression, suicide, eating disorders, harassment and sexual exploitation. COPPA 2.0 would update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, extending a ban against companies collecting children’s personal information without consent from those ages 13 to 16. The COPPA update would also ban targeted advertising for children and teens.

Wyden and Paul, in separate remarks, said KOSA would prompt widespread censorship, weaken encryption standards and could enable a potential Trump administration FTC to block LGBTQ-related content.

Senate Democrats won’t allow members to file amendments, Paul told us. He said he planned to file an amendment that would have blocked KOSA enforcers from targeting social, political or religious content. If signed into law, the bill will open a “Pandora’s box” of content that could be censored because it’s deemed harmful to “anxious” children, he told us.

Wyden said in a statement he fears the bill could expose platforms to litigation for simply offering encryption services. He said he shares concerns with the LGBTQ community about a potential Trump FTC pressuring “companies to censor gay, trans and reproductive health information.”

Rodgers told us the House Commerce Committee had planned to mark up the bills next week before Republican leaders decided to start the August recess early Thursday. “That’s all been delayed,” she said. “We hope to move forward” when the House returns, which is scheduled for Sept. 9.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, credited bill sponsors for working with his office to amend language of both bills prior to floor action. On KOSA, he said he worked with Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., to eliminate all FTC rulemaking authority and restrict litigation at the state level. Both bills will help keep children “safer online,” he said.

Cantwell said on the floor that the bills would provide new tools to the FTC. For example, COPPA 2.0 would create a youth marketing and privacy division at the agency.

Big Tech will try to profit off kids' addictions as long as Congress allows it, said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who introduced COPPA 2.0 with Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. The bill would allow parents and children to opt out of endless online surveillance, he said.

On the potential for a legal challenge against KOSA, Blumenthal told reporters there’s “no legal basis.” He said none of the bill provisions would create privacy intrusions, result in censorship or introduce conflicts with Communications Decency Act Section 230. The bill creates a “reasonable and sensible” duty of care for tech platforms to provide safety guardrails for children, he said.

NetChoice issued a statement in opposition to KOSA. “Taking away parents’ and guardians’ authority and choice, while forcing them to give up their and their children’s personal information to access and engage in free speech, is both dangerous and a violation of their rights,” Vice President Carl Szabo said. Wyden in his statement noted opposition from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, Fight for the Future and LGBTQ advocates.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau said in a statement Thursday it has concerns about KOSA conflicting with state laws and its “subjective knowledge standards that could increase liability for general audience websites and apps.” In addition, IAB worries about KOSA's “restrictions on the use of internal data that helps service providers improve customer experiences,” Executive Vice President-Public Policy Lartease Tiffith said.