Senate Overwhelmingly Passes Children’s Online Privacy Legislation

Cantwell's years of leadership instrumental in getting COPPA 2.0 and KOSA to Senate floor

Together, bills would give parents new tools to protect their kids online & ban targeting online advertising to children under 17

Last week, Cantwell spoke on the Senate floor on how social media companies earned $11 billion in U.S. advertising revenue off children & teens in 2022

Today, 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 better protect children and teens online. U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, twice led the passage of the bills through the Committee, and worked tirelessly with bill sponsors, stakeholders and parents whose children were harmed, to build consensus and support necessary to secure Senate approval.

"Americans, including kids, are being tracked across the internet and every place they go with a phone or mobile device," said Sen. Cantwell. "Social media companies are harvesting our children's personal data and making billions of dollars a year through targeted ads aimed at them. Taken together, COPPA 2.0 and KOSA will give parents new tools to protect their kids online, hold social media companies accountable for harm, require consent before data can be collected and ban targeted advertising to kids under 17.

Sen. Cantwell led the successful passage of COPPA 2.0 and KOSA through the Senate Commerce Committee on July 27, 2022, and again on July 27, 2023. She met several times with families whose children were harmed and worked continuously to strengthen support for the legislation in the Senate.

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. In February, Sen. Cantwell joined as a bill cosponsor.

The Kids Online Safety Act provides children and parents with the tools, safeguards, and transparency to protect against online harms. 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.

As Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Sen. Cantwell has been a champion for data privacy protections. In March 2024, Sen. Cantwell and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA-5) unveiled the draft bipartisan American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) that would establish clear, national data privacy rights and protections for Americans, eliminate the existing patchwork of state comprehensive data privacy laws and establish robust enforcement mechanisms to hold violators accountable, including a private right of action for individuals.