Two controversial bills that would expand teenagers' rights to privacy and limit Big Tech's ability to collect data from underage users advanced to the Senate floor Thursday.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation voted to approve two bills to implement safeguards to protect children and teenagers online. It approved Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Richard Blumenthal's (D-CT) Kids Online Safety Act, which would require platforms to take steps to prevent a defined set of harms to minors as well as implement controls for users that allow parents to limit screen time, restrict addictive features, and determine who gets access to their teenager's user profile.
TIM BURCHETT CALLS THE PENTAGON' A BUNCH OF WAR PIMPS' AMID HOUSE UFO HEARING
“We are thrilled that the Kids Online Safety Act is advancing to the Senate floor, but until this bill passes, our children continue to be harmed online," Blackburn said in a statement. "No amount of lies or lobbying from big tech companies and special interests will stop us or the countless parents and advocates fighting to protect our kids."
The committee also approved Sen. Ed Markey's (D-MA) updated Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act, known as COPPA 2.0. The bill would prohibit collecting personal info on users between ages 13 and 16. It would also ban targeting advertising to children, allow parents to erase a child's personal data if desired, and establish a "Digital Marketing Bill of Rights for Teens" to set the standards for protecting the data.
The Kids Online Safety Act was previously advanced to the floor last year but stagnated before the full Senate could consider it. The bill has a multitude of co-sponsors as well as the support of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and President Joe Biden. Schumer's staff told the youth advocacy group Design It For Us that the Kids Online Safety Act was "still very much a priority," according to Axios. Biden also voiced support for legislation protecting children on Wednesday.
Technology industry representatives opposed the bill, arguing that it would violate children's privacy and free speech rights. The Kids Online Safety Act and COPPA 2.0 "raise serious First Amendment concerns that will result in the blocking of legitimate speech online and contain compliance ambiguities that mean users' privacy rights and businesses' obligations will change based on relatively small differences in product design," Matt Schruers, the president of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, said in a statement.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Others have argued that the two bills override parental rights. "When it comes to determining the best way to help kids and teens use the internet, parents and guardians should be making those decisions, not the government," argued NetChoice Vice President and General Counsel Carl Szabo. NetChoice is a conservative-leaning tech industry group.
Some viral accounts have alleged that the Kids Online Safety Act would require users to submit copies of their driver's licenses to Big Tech companies to post. While the legislation does not explicitly demand copies of one's driver's license to be online, it would require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to conduct a study on age verification and submit it to Congress.