07.30.24

Senate Overwhelmingly Passes Two Major Bills to Protect Kids Online Under Cantwell Leadership

Social media companies profited $11 billion in U.S. advertising revenue off children and teens in 2022

WASHINGTON, DC –Today, the U.S. Senate voted 91-3 to pass the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), two historic bills that expand children’s privacy protections and give parents and kids the tools, safeguards, and transparency to protect against online harms.

“Americans, including kids, are being tracked across the internet and every place they go with a phone or mobile device,” said Sen. Cantwell. “Social media companies are harvesting our children’s personal data and making billions of dollars a year through targeted ads aimed at them. Taken together, COPPA 2.0 and KOSA will give parents new tools to protect their kids online, hold social media companies accountable for harm, require consent before data can be collected, and ban targeted advertising to kids under 17.”

The bill the Senate passed today, the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act, included provisions of two significant bills:

The Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0):

  • Stops online companies from collecting personal information from kids age 16 and under without consent, up from age 13 today.
  • Bans targeted advertising to children and teens.
  • Creates an eraser button to easily eliminate a child’s personal information online.
  • Establishes a Youth Marketing and Privacy Division at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). 

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA):

  • Establishes a new duty of care for online platforms.
  • Requires online platforms use the most protective settings for kids by default.
  • Requires online platforms to provide safeguards for kids, such as an opt-out of personalized recommendation systems and limits on features that encourage kids to spend more time on the platform.
  • Requires online platforms to provide an easy-to-use method to report harms and mandate they provide a response to the complaints.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation chaired by Sen. Cantwell previously passed both bipartisan bills on July 27, 2023, and on July 27, 2022, the result of months of work with bill sponsors, stakeholders, and parents whose children were harmed. That collaborative process built consensus and the necessary support to secure today’s strong showing on the Senate floor. Sen. Cantwell cosponsored COPPA 2.0 in February 2024.

According to a Harvard University study, social media companies generated $11 billion in revenue from advertising directed at children and teenagers in 2022, including nearly $2 billion in ad revenue derived from users age 12 and under.

In January 2023, Seattle Public Schools filed a lawsuit against the companies operating TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, SnapChat, and YouTube, seeking to hold the companies responsible for having created “digital environments that can negatively affect the mental and emotional health of our students.” Everett School District No. 2 and Highline Public Schools have brought similar litigation against the social media companies.

As Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Sen. Cantwell has been a champion for securing data privacy protections. In March 2024, Sen. Cantwell and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R, WA-5) unveiled draft legislation for the bipartisan American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) that would establish clear, national data privacy rights and protections for Americans, eliminate the existing patchwork of state comprehensive data privacy laws, and establish robust enforcement mechanisms to hold violators accountable, including a private right of action for individuals.

Sen. Cantwell spoke on the Senate floor on KOSA and COPPA 2.0 last week ahead of a procedural vote to advance the legislation, which also passed on an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 86-1. Video of Sen. Cantwell’s floor speech is available HERE, audio HERE, and a transcript HERE.

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