Senate Passes Bills Aimed at Protecting Children Online

WASHINGTON, July 31, 2024 – The Senate on Tuesday passed two bills by a vote of 91-3 aimed at protecting children online and prescribing conduct for online platforms accountable with.

The two passed bills in the package are the KOSA, which requires social media sites to implement safeguards protecting users under 17 from content promoting harmful behaviors, and COPPA 2.0, raising the age for which it is illegal for websites to collect data on children from under 13 to under 16. The measure would also ban marketing specifically aimed at kids, and allow parents to delete their children's information from websites.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa., stated on his X account that he voted yes on the bills to protect youth online and bring accountability to big online platforms. He noted that the existing laws are “outdated” and emphasized that these bills can help save young lives.

“All individuals, including children, are the rightful owners of their personal information. They should be granted a certain set of privacy rights and the ability to protect those rights,” said Sens. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who voted yes on the bills.

Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, each voted against the bills.

After the bills passed, Paul said in a post on X with more than 58 thousand views by Wednesday, “Government mandates and censorship will not protect children online. The internet may pose new problems, but there is an age-old solution to this issue,” and stated that “KOSA is not the solution for protecting children from social media.”

Wyden expressed his reasoning on his vote through X, claiming that “KOSA could be used to sue services that offer privacy technologies like encryption or anonymity features that kids rely on to communicate securely and privately without being spied on by predators online.”

KOSA was introduced in 2022 by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. COPPA 2.0 was introduced in 2023 by Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Bill Cassidy, R-La.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Ranking Member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joined as cosponsors of COPPA 2.0 in February, with the following senators joining as cosponsors of Markey-Cassidy measure: Republican Senators Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Mike Crapo of Idaho, and Democrats Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Laphonza Butler of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Gary Peters of Michigan, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Peter Welch of Vermont and Ron Wyden of Oregon, plus Angus King, I-Maine.

“Our updated COPPA 2.0 bill creates strong privacy protections for young people, bans targeted advertising to kids and teens, and creates an Eraser Button for parents and kids by requiring companies to permit users to delete information. With the additional changes to the bill, COPPA 2.0 is ready to advance in the Senate,” said Markey and Cassidy.