Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is set to bring bipartisan bills to the Senate floor this week that aim to protect children online, with the goal of passing the legislation before lawmakers leave for the August recess.
If passed, the bills would be the first to update children’s privacy protections online since the 1990s. The legislation had been stalled previously, even after it received the support of more than 60 backers.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced a version of the Kids Online Safety Act in 2022 and have since worked with advocacy groups to update it in response to a series of congressional hearings and investigations into online child safety. The bill would require social media platforms to give parents and children more tools and safeguards to prevent and mitigate content-promoting things such as suicide, self-harm, sexual exploitation, or eating disorders.
The legislation has been updated in the midst of concerns that it could allow for broad content filtering in an effort to limit the access of minors to specific online content. The new changes took key enforcement powers from state attorneys general and transferred them to regulators at the Federal Trade Commission.
In addition, the Senate will also consider the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act from Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), which aims to prohibit an operator of a website or mobile application from collecting personal information about child and teen users. It would also update a law that forbids companies from collecting personal data from users under the age of 13, by raising it to the age of 17.
“For far too long, as children and teens suffered from a devastating mental health crisis, driven, in part, by Big Tech, Congress sat back and did nothing. That ends in the next week when the Senate votes on COPPA 2.0,” Markey and Cassidy wrote in a joint statement Tuesday.
“With this vote, the Senate has a critical opportunity to send a message to Big Tech and put an end to the relentless targeting and tracking of kids and teens online,” the pair added.
Schumer on Tuesday is expected to tee up the legislative vehicles for both bills. The Democratic leader had previously tried to secure a time agreement to pass the bill quickly but was unable to get unanimous consent.
“It has been a long and daunting road to get this bill passed, which can change and save lives, but today, we are one monumental step closer to success,” Schumer said in a statement Tuesday.
A vote on this critical legislation comes as Schumer has embraced “show votes” this summer, advancing measures that are meant to fail on border security and abortion rights in an effort to put Republicans on defense. The high-profile failures allow Democrats’ most vulnerable incumbents up for reelection, such as Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Jon Tester (D-MT), to cast votes on measures that are popular with voters while illustrating Republicans are opposed.
“I think a lot of us are happy to see some meaningful legislation potentially move forward in an election year,” said a Republican aide who worked on the legislation, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “These bills have been in the works for years, and it’s time to get them over the finish line.”
The lawmakers have worked side by side with parents who have lost children by suicide after they’d experienced cyberbullying or had been affected by mental health disorders or associated behaviors, including the promotion or exacerbation of self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, and substance abuse disorders.
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“Over the past few months, I’ve met with families from across the country who have gone through the worst thing a parent could endure — losing a child. Rather than retreating into the darkness of their loss, these families lit a candle for others with their advocacy,” Schumer said.
Companion legislation has been introduced in the House, where the bill’s prospects are still unclear. However, if the legislation passes overwhelmingly in the Senate, supporters hope that will send a clear message to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
