Federal: COPPA Legislation on the Road to an Update

What happened?

On July 30, 2024, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) to protect children and teens better online. Both bills are aimed at increasing children’s privacy online.

Quick Summary:

• Important legislation has been introduced to update The Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act and The Kids Online Safety Act.
• It would require covered entities to comply with the expected new obligations.

What are the details?

• This is an attempt to update current legislation to “modern standards” after more than 20 years.

• The Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) bans online companies from collecting personal information from users under 17 years old without their consent. It bans targeted advertising to children and teens and creates an eraser button for parents and kids to eliminate personal information online. The bill also establishes a Youth Marketing and Privacy Division at the FTC.
  
  • Specifically, COPPA 2.0 would:
    
    1. Prohibit Internet companies from collecting personal information from users who are 16 and under without their consent.
    2. Ban targeted ads to teens and children.
    3. Revise COPPA’s “actual knowledge” standard to help eliminate the loophole allowing a platform to ignore children and teens on their site.
    4. Create an “Eraser Button” that allows children and teens to delete their personal information.
    5. Establish data minimization rules to prohibit the excessive collection of children’s and teens’ data.
    6. Establish a Youth Privacy and Marketing Division at the FTC.

• The Kids Online Safety Act provides children and parents with the tools, safeguards, and transparency to protect against online harm. It establishes a duty of care for online platforms and requires them to activate the most protective settings for kids by default, providing minors with options to protect their information, disable addictive product features, and opt-out of personalized algorithmic recommendations.
  
  • Specifically, KOSA would:
    
    1. Require platforms to enable the strongest privacy settings for minors when the platform knows the user is 16 or under
    2. Provide parents with controls to help protect children and provide parents and educators with a dedicated channel to report harmful behavior
    3. Platforms must disclose data policies for minors, get parental consent for kids under 13, and explain algorithm use with opt-out options.
    4. Perform an annual report
    5. FTC enforcement

Business Considerations

• Although a slow process, employers should monitor the legislative progress of both bills as a package and prepare to update their privacy policies, as well as incorporate the other requirements in the form and manner mandated by the laws.

Source References

• Congress Press Release
• S 1418 – Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act
• S 1409 – Kids Online Safety Act
• Senate Passes KOSA and COPPA 2.0 (Baker & Hostetler LLP)
• U.S. Senate Approves Legislation to Protect Youth Online (Morrison & Foerster LLP.)
• Senate passes long-awaited bills to boost online safety, privacy for kids (Nexstar Media Inc.)
• Senate Passes Landmark Children’s Privacy and Safety Legislation (Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP)

This communication is intended solely for the purpose of conveying information. The present post might incorporate hyperlinks directing readers to websites managed by third-party entities. The inclusion of any links within this communication is meant to serve as points of reference and could encompass opinion articles from various law firms, articles from HR associations, official websites, news releases, and documents of government agencies, and other relevant third-party sources. Vensure has no authority over these external websites and bears no responsibility for their content. Furthermore, Vensure does not endorse the materials present on these websites. The contents of this communication should not be interpreted as legal advice or as a legal standpoint concerning specific facts or scenarios. Nor should it be deemed an exhaustive compilation of facts potentially pertinent to federal, state, or local laws. It is strongly advised that employers solicit legal guidance from an employment attorney when undertaking actions in response to any legal updates provided. This is due to the possibility of future alterations occurring in federal, state, and local laws, regulations, as well as the directives and guidelines issued by governing agencies. These changes may transpire at any given time, potentially rendering certain portions of the content within this update void or inaccurate.