House advances child privacy laws

Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee (“House”) proposed the Kids Online Safety Act (HR 7891) (“KOSA”) and the Children and Teen’s Online Privacy Protection Act (HR 7890) (“COPPA 2.0”).

According to Bloomberg LawSince the Senate’s passage of KOSA on July 30, 2024, advocates for online safety for children have been pressing House Republican leaders to pass the bill, which would require social media companies to take steps to reduce the potential harm to children including with regard to content that promotes violence, eating disorders and sexual exploitation.

Some argue that passage of KOSA would lead to a stifling of the First Amendment’s free speech protections and increase online surveillance. The House faced disagreements over the bill, with Republican leaders reportedly sharing private concerns about its possible passage. Some Democrats took the position that the measures in the bill could affect online expression and negatively impact marginalized communities such as LGBTQ+ youth. In contrast, the bill’s proponents attempted to refute these First Amendment claims by arguing that KOSA will create a “duty of care” for companies to protect the designrather than the content, of their platforms.

Many states have passed their own laws intended to protect the privacy and safety of children, and some local officials are concerned that federal legislation could override these protections. That said, KOSA and COPPA 2.0 were approved by voice vote, and it is unclear how many individual members actually voted or supported each proposal. Additional updates to both bills may be available before they are finalized.