Blumenthal, Blackburn Look to Advance Kids Privacy Bill

The Kids Online Safety Act is the result of a series of subcommittee hearings on the matter last year (see 2112090003 and 2110260070), after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testified to Congress about the platform’s internal research and approach to children's mental health (see 2110050062).

Blumenthal said he’s looking forward to marking up this “urgent” legislation and expects it to advance to the floor. The purpose is to empower children and their parents, said Blackburn, noting it will apply to minors 16 years old and younger.

The bill would allow minors to “opt out of algorithmic recommendations,” and platforms would be mandated to “enable the strongest settings by default.” Parents would have a “dedicated channel” on platforms to report harms to kids. The bill establishes a duty of care on protecting minors from “self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, and unlawful products.” Platforms would need to complete an annual, independent audit to assess risks to minors and compliance with the legislation. Academic and public interest groups would have access to “critical datasets from social media platforms to foster research.”

Key members of the committee’s privacy working group (see 2109270051), Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., told us they haven’t reviewed the legislation. “I’m confident they’ve put a lot of work into it,” said Wicker. Moran said: “We knew it was being introduced. We’ve had some conversions with them, but I haven’t [discussed] any of the details."

Blumenthal told reporters the issues addressed in the bill don’t apply to Communications Decency Act Section 230, so there was no need to explore any carve-outs there. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed his bipartisan Earn It Act, a Section 230-related child safety bill, earlier this month (see 2202100071). There’s interest in introducing a House companion to the Kids Online Safety Act, and there has been “encouraging, informal” comments from the White House, said Blumenthal.

The FTC should use its authority under the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act and FTC Act Section 5 to monitor potential privacy harms to children with the increased use of virtual reality platforms, Democrats wrote the agency Wednesday. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., signed the letter with Reps. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., and Lori Trahan, D-Mass. Many VR platforms don’t have basic parental controls, and there have been reports of harassment and unsafe content, the group wrote. They raised concerns about harmful and manipulative marketing practices of VR platforms. The FTC didn't comment.

House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., hosted a data privacy hearing in hopes of “reinvigorating” the congressional debate on a comprehensive federal privacy law. She pushed for support for her Online Privacy Act (see 2111180048) with Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. Ranking member Rodney Davis, R-Ill., criticized her for focusing a hearing on data privacy. The Commerce and Judiciary committees have primary jurisdiction on the issue. Let those committees work out the underlying policy issues for privacy, he said. He noted the House has referred more than 300 bills to the committee, but the committee has had one legislative hearing and zero markups.

Congress should pass federal privacy legislation to override privacy laws passing at the state level, testified Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Vice President Daniel Castro. The federal bill shouldn’t include a private right of action, and it should distinguish between sensitive and nonsensitive data, he said. Electronic Privacy Information Center Deputy Director Caitriona Fitzgerald spoke in favor of a private right of action, against federal preemption of stronger state laws, limits on data collection, prohibitions against discriminatory data use and algorithmic fairness. Closing the privacy gap will mean denying certain data access to third parties, said Mozilla Chief Security Officer Marshall Erwin. He noted many entities have built their businesses around ubiquitous user tracking while blocking privacy innovation.