Parents are right to worry about the ways their children can be targeted online. We see the mental health challenges fueled by social media use, increasing data collection and uncomfortably specific ads targeting our children.
But there is a reason to hope. We wrote a bill to protect children’s privacy, and it is now inches away from becoming law.
The Senate took a massive step toward protecting our children online by passing my Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act — or COPPA 2.0 — last month. It’s rare that the Senate votes 91-3 to pass anything, let alone a bill as pivotal as COPPA 2.0.
The original online privacy rules that protect our children were passed in 1998 and have not been updated since. How could rules written 25 years ago effectively govern social media sites that did not exist then?
The internet is now a part of children’s everyday lives. The information a child has access to has drastically expanded with the internet, exposing children to risks they may not have the maturity to navigate independently. The internet has brought a lot of good and can be a great learning tool for our children, but adult content and pornography, cyberbullying, violence, predatory behavior and mental health impacts are threats that many parents feel powerless to protect their children against.
Parents should not be powerless when their children’s privacy and health are at stake nor should our children be left to face these challenges alone. My mission was to make that a reality when writing the bill.
COPPA 2.0 establishes a ban on advertising targeted at children and teens. Algorithms track nearly every click from website to website or post to post and then create individualized profiles on a person’s interests and desires. This data is then provided to advertisers who target ads at individuals.
Of course, the 1998 rules don’t prohibit Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok from collecting personal information on young teenagers without consent. People were concerned about Y2K at the time and Nick Saban had not yet joined LSU’s football team when they were written.
Our bill also expands protections to teenagers who are treated as adults online under current law. With 95% of teenagers between 13 and 17 using social media, we must ensure a teenager receives the same protections as any other minor. Additionally, it creates an “eraser button” for children who have had their data collected to ensure that data is deleted. This will give parents the peace of mind they deserve.
This, along with the Kids Online Safety Act, which empowers parents to prevent children from watching inappropriate content, will give parents peace of mind knowing their children are safer. The bill requires covered platforms like social media sites to provide controls that allow parents to supervise their children’s activity and restrict access to their children’s personal data. Online platforms will also be required to disclose data on their targeted advertising and personalized recommendation systems.
Everyone agreed we needed to update the rules to keep social media companies in check and give parents the power to defend their children. The Senate leaped at the opportunity to pass these bills because there was a clear mandate from parents to do more. We listened and sent the bills to the House of Representatives.
Now my hope is that the House will join us. We must place a shield between our children and the dangers they are exposed to on the internet.